N.Y. Mosque Leader Charged in Visa Case

The head of a Brooklyn mosque was arrested Thursday and charged with conspiring to obtain visas for illegal immigrants by submitting phony applications under the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Religious Worker Program.

Prosecutors in U.S. Atty. James Comey’s office charged Muhamad Khalil, 62, the imam of Dar Ehya Essunnah mosque in Brooklyn, with submitting phony documentation for more than 200 such applications.

He also was charged with Social Security fraud for allegedly providing a real non-immigrant visa under a fictitious name to a cooperating witness.

During 2001 alone, Khalil sponsored at least 134 workers, charging $5,000 to $8,000 to create the faked paperwork, prosecutors said.

Khalil has headed the mosque since 1993.

In addition to Khalil, his son, Asim, and three others were arrested by INS agents Thursday and named in the federal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan.

To be eligible for such a visa under the INS program, the applicant must prove that he or she has had continuous experience in a religious worker position for more than two years.

The applicant also must be sponsored by a religious organization and not be working in any secular employment.

A complaint filed by INS agent Christopher Quinn detailed how one individual, described as a “cooperating witness,” met repeatedly with Khalil from July to November of last year in an attempt to obtain the imam’s sponsorship.

According to the immigrant, the imam offered to prepare and submit paperwork for a religious-worker visa in exchange for $6,500.

The immigrant eventually paid that fee.

Roger Stavis, the lawyer representing Khalil, was unavailable for comment Thursday night.