The EOIR (Executive Office For Immigration Review) Oakdale Immigration Court, bottom, is seen in this aerial photo in Oakdale, La., Tuesday, April 8, 2025.
Gerald Herbert/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Gerald Herbert/AP
Federal prosecutors have indicted five individuals in Louisiana, including three current and former police chiefs, for their alleged involvement in a scheme to submit false police reports to facilitate immigrants’ applications for special visas in exchange for monetary gain.
As per the 62-count indictment, the accused parties falsified police reports, falsely listing immigrants as victims of fictitious crimes to enable them to seek U-visas.
The U nonimmigrant status, or U-visa, offers temporary legal status in the U.S. to individuals who have been victimized by crimes and are cooperative with law enforcement or government officials in criminal investigations or prosecutions. The visa is designated for victims of specific crimes who have suffered physical or mental abuse.
All five defendants are facing charges of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and mail fraud. Some of them also stand accused of money laundering, visa fraud, and bribery, according to legal filings.
The indictment asserts that from December 2015 to the recent past, the defendants collaborated to fabricate “false police reports in various parishes in central Louisiana.”
These reports allegedly identified multiple individuals as victims of armed robberies in the central Louisiana region, with the intention of allowing them to apply for U-visas.
One of the defendants, a Louisiana entrepreneur, acted as a liaison between immigrants seeking U-visas and his four accomplices in law enforcement, as per the indictment.
For each alleged victim mentioned in these police reports, prosecutors claim the businessman paid his co-conspirators $5,000.
The businessman himself obtained a U-visa in 2023 based on his reported victimization in an armed robbery incident, according to court documents.
If found guilty, the defendants could face significant prison sentences and substantial fines.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill hinted at the possibility of additional state charges.
“Public officials, particularly those in law enforcement, who engage in fraudulent activities and obstruct justice betray the public trust and erode confidence in the legal system. They will be held answerable,” she wrote in a statement on Facebook.
“Public officials – especially those in law enforcement – who conspire to commit fraud and obstruct justice violate the public trust and undermine faith in justice. They will be held accountable.”
