Federal immigration officials announced Tuesday that they recently conducted 900 site visits and in-person interviews across the Twin Cities, investigating alleged immigration fraud in international marriages, in the workplace and with international students, among other areas.
The crackdown, which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) dubbed “Operation Twin Shield,” found 275 cases of “fraud, non-compliance, or public safety or national security concerns,” according to the agency. The operation began on September 19, and targeted 1,000 cases.
The timing of the investigation coincides with reports that immigration officials were questioning international students last week at at least three apartment buildings on or near the University of Minnesota campus: the Commonwealth Terrace Cooperative in St. Paul, GrandMarc Seven Corners in Minneapolis, and St. Anthony Village Apartments in Minneapolis.
“This community is probably majority international students,” said Giang Thai, a resident of the Commonwealth Terrace Cooperative and a former international student at the University of Minnesota. “I definitely feel very scared.”
About 50 students rallied Monday at the university’s Coffman Memorial Union to denounce the surprise visits, calling on school officials to invest in more resources to ensure that immigrants are protected from deportation.
“If this [surprise visits] is allowed on campus now, I think there’s a lot of concern on what the next escalation is going to be, and if the university’s going to make a stance on it,” Juliet Murphy, a member of Students for a Democratic Society, said at Monday’s rally.
Local immigration attorneys expressed some skepticism of the government’s claims of fraud, and noted that the operation marks a shift for the citizenship and immigration agency, which historically provided immigration services and now appears more focused on immigration enforcement.
Typically, USCIS agents work in offices conducting interviews with people applying for visas, permanent residence or citizenship, said Julia Decker, a policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.
“The [Trump] Administration has moved USCIS towards restarting things like neighborhood investigations as part of naturalization processes and arming special agents as part of the USCIS,” Decker told Sahan Journal.
Charges come next in immigration investigation
The recent investigations found suspected fraud that included “marriage fraud, visa overstays, people claiming to work at businesses that can’t be found, forged documents, abuse of the H1B visa system, abuse of the F1 visas and many other discrepancies over the course of the operation,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said at a press conference in Minneapolis Tuesday afternoon.
H1B and F1 visas are typically used for college and university students studying in the United States, and for people who come here to work jobs that require college degrees.
Edlow and other federal officials at the press conference would not say how many people they plan on charging. Edlow said the investigation had completed its visits to people and sites, and was moving into a second phase that entails filing criminal charges and potentially rescinding benefits that have already been given to immigrants.
“We’re still in the phase of gathering everything, working along with our federal partners at [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement], especially [Homeland Security Investigations], as we make the arrangements to determine who is going to be charged in full,” Edlow said.
Decker, who was not at the press conference but was briefed about it, said that Edlow used “very broad and very vague terms” while describing the alleged fraud.
“I have seen things like snow emergency tickets be used as evidence of a public safety risk,” she said.
Edlow detailed a few cases of alleged fraud:
- A person allegedly sponsored more than 100 immigrants under USCIS’s former Uniting for Ukraine Program.
- An immigrant overstayed his visa and is “the son of a known or suspected terrorist on the no fly list” who previously “engaged in immigration fraud which resulted in the denial of several immigration benefit requests.”
- An immigrant attempted to marry a U.S. citizen for immigration purposes, and admitted to it after immigration officers visited him.
- An immigrant entered into a fraudulent marriage “by taking advantage of an elderly U.S. citizen spouse.”
Ana Pottratz Acosta, a Mitchell Hamline School of Law professor, told Sahan Journal that she was skeptical of the number of fraud cases allegedly identified, because they include visa overstays.
“Generally speaking, as long as you enter lawfully with a visa, even if you overstay, you can apply for a permanent residence through an adjustment of status in the United States,” Pottratz Acosta said.
Immigrants who overstay their visa usually apply for an adjustment of status through their spouse or child, if the child is 21 or over, Pottratz Acosta said.
University of Minnesota students targeted
Several international students reported surprise visits by two USCIS officers last week, according to local immigration attorneys. Officers approached the international students at their workplaces and apartments and asked them about their visas, attorneys said.
The majority of the international students visited by USCIS officers have federal approval for temporary employment through Optional Practical Training, which allows them to work in their field of study in the United States, said John Medeiros, a Minneapolis-based immigration attorney.
Some of the students who were visited have a H1-B non-immigrant visa that is sponsored by their employer allowing them to work in the United States, he added.
Medeiros said at least five international students notified him last week that they had been questioned. He said USCIS officers asked students about their employment, including time off, salary and work responsibilities.
Thai, the former University of Minnesota international student who lives in one of the apartment buildings visited by immigration officials, said the surprise visits had a chilling effect on residents in the area.
“I kind of have more caution now,” she said.
University of Minnesota spokesman Joe Linstroth issued a written statement saying that campus departments, including the University Police Department, do not enforce federal immigration laws, and that university police do not inquire about immigration status.
“We are aware of reports from members of the University community,” said Linstroth’s statement. “The University will continue to keep all community members who are affected by immigration policies well-informed so they can best navigate their responsibilities in compliance with law and policy.”
