The Death Penalty for Immigration Marriage Fraud?

Fake marriages to obtain green cards are evil, criminal acts and the government should pursue them more vigorously – but the death penalty?

I am all for jailing, then deporting, the alien or aliens involved and simultaneously jailing the citizen "spouse" if the marriage is a fraud, but a penalty of death?

Don't get me wrong – Secretary Napolitano has not gone haywire in her (usually tepid) enforcement of the immigration law.

It was a different, shall we say, non-governmental, female who lowered the boom, according to a story in the Washington Post.

It seems that Pakistani immigrant Shahabuddin Rana conspired with his own brother and the U.S. citizen woman (Shanika Robinson) for the latter two to enter into a sham marriage so the brother could secure a green card. Rana agreed to pay Ms. Robinson a thumping $500 a week for the fraud – in my experience these payments are often considerably less, and usually in a lump sum. Further, they are usually paid by the alien spouse, not by the alien spouse's sibling.

After a while, and the Post is not very helpful on this aspect of the matter, "immigration officials discovered that the marriage was a sham." There is nothing more in the article on this subject, and there is nothing in U.S. court records either.

Rana, owner of an inner city pizza parlor, then called Ms. Robinson and said that the deal was off. No more payments.

Two years later Robinson, her younger brother, and her boyfriend allegedly wangled their way into the pizza shop at 4 a.m., and killed the non-bribe payer. The woman and her boyfriend are now on trial for murder, and the younger brother has already pled guilty.

Moral of the story: Even if you are simply financing marriage fraud, not directly engaging in it, be aware that violating the immigration law can be dangerous to your health.