BOSTON - Federal prosecutors on Oct 21 charged six people with participating in a long-running scheme to allegedly arrange hundreds of sham marriages in Massachusetts, in order to help immigrants unlawfully obtain green cards and potential US citizenship.
US Attorney Leah Foley during a press conference in Boston said the scheme’s alleged mastermind, Jennifer Gonzalez, helped organise sham marriages for over a decade in Massachusetts, a Democratic-led state the defendant described as a “sanctuary” jurisdiction where “you get a lot of help as an immigrant.”
It marked the latest such case by the US Department of Justice as part of Republican President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. In August, it brought one of the largest such cases when in New York it charged 11 people over a scheme prosecutors said facilitated about 1,000 sham marriages.
Gonzalez, 43, told a cooperating witness posing as a client that her group helped obtain hundreds of permanent resident cards, or green cards, for non-citizens living illegally in Massachusetts, charging US$38,000 to US$40,000 (S$48,000 to S$51,000) for marriages to US citizens, according to a criminal complaint.
Authorities said the operation ran about 12 years and averaged about 18 to 20 fraudulent marriages annually, generating over US$6 million in profits.
Gonzalez, a US-born citizen, told the witness her goal was “for you to get the American Dream,” but that her business had become more difficult after Trump in 2025 returned to office, the complaint said.
Foley, whom the Trump administration appointed as the state’s top federal prosecutor, called it a sophisticated scheme that Gonzalez was “operating with impunity under the last administration.”
“My hope is that today the charged defendants and others like them realize that the American dream is not for sale,” Foley said.
“It is earned. And when you try to pilfer it for profit, we will hold you accountable.”
Gonzalez is charged with harbouring immigrants living illegally in the United States and marriage fraud. Her lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other defendants include people accused of aiding Gonzalez’s scheme or entering into sham marriages with immigrants.
Foley said Gonzalez entered such a marriage herself and obtained food stamp benefits from Massachusetts without listing any income from her scheme, which she used to buy property in the Dominican Republic.
Foley said the investigation was ongoing and could result in future charges against anyone found to have obtained legal status through the scheme. REUTERS