INS Cracks Ring Selling False Papers; 9 Arrested

Culminating a two-year investigation, U.S. immigration authorities have broken up a major Los Angeles-based ring that distributed counterfeit immigration documents and other forged paperwork nationwide, officials said Friday.

Among the nine suspects arrested Thursday, authorities said, was the syndicate’s alleged “godfather”--Alfonso Castorena Ibarra, 53, described as an illegal immigrant from Mexico who resided in Los Angeles.

According to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, the ring generated more than $1 million a month in sales, with branch operations in Texas, Nevada, Colorado, Georgia and New York. Its structure and national breadth demonstrated the growing sophistication of the booming false-document racket, typically run by family groups.

“It’s like bringing down a major drug organization,” said Paul E. Coggins, U.S. attorney in Dallas, where the ring allegedly did widespread business.

However, officials acknowledged that there are many other organizations hawking fraudulent documents on street corners, in parking lots and in residences from Los Angeles to New York.

“We’re not deluding ourselves into thinking this comes close to solving the problem,” Coggins said.

The arrests were considered particularly significant, law enforcement authorities said, because those seized were identified as the leaders of the organization. As in drug cases, officials said, arrests in the false-document trade often involve low-level couriers and salesmen, while kingpins remain untouched.

INS officers worked undercover in the case, convincing underworld contacts that they had sources within the agency that could provide authentic documents for sale, said Neil Jacobs, chief of investigations for the INS in Dallas.

The nationwide proliferation of false documents, officials say, has largely undercut the effectiveness of a much ballyhooed 1986 federal statute making it a crime to hire illegal immigrants. Many unauthorized workers show false papers to their employers, allowing them to go on the payroll and circumvent the law.

Los Angeles is considered the center of the national phony-document trade, distributing throughout the nation. The streets near MacArthur Park are a particularly notorious center, although the documents may be purchased illicitly in immigrant neighborhoods regionwide.

In this case, officials said, clients typically paid $120 to $180 for a packet that included a Social Security card, an INS residence document and a birth certificate. State driver’s licenses cost extra.

Along with the nine arrests, authorities seized thousands of false documents and other incriminating material. The forged documents were probably printed in Mexico and smuggled into the United States, authorities said.

All of those arrested on the federal complaint are expected to be charged with violating federal laws prohibiting the manufacture and sale of false documents, officials said. All are also illegal immigrants who themselves made use of false papers, the INS said.

Arrest warrants are pending for eight other alleged leaders of the false-document ring, all believed to be residing in Los Angeles, said Jacobs of the INS.