Inside ICE: Volume 2, Issue 17

ICE Nabs NGO, Exec for Immigration Fraud

MIAMI, Fla. — An immigration assistance organization and its executive director have been indicted following an ICE investigation for immigration fraud.

The Haitian American Community Help Organization of South Florida, Inc. ("HACHO") and HACHO Executive Director Gomez Accime were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud and presenting false applications for immigration employment authorization. ICE agents arrested Accime July 27.

HACHO presented itself to the public as an organization that could obtain employment authorization and other immigration benefits for aliens residing in the United States. According to the indictment, HACHO submitted more than 10,000 fraudulent applications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), for which it received more than $3 million from the applicants.

The indictment charges that HACHO submitted applications without regard to the applicants’ eligibility, falsely representing that the aliens submitting the applications were either refugees or employed as domestic or personal servants.

CIS routinely denied the applications for lack of documentation, but HACHO collected $450 from each applicant.

"Those who think that they can defraud the government unnoticed need to think twice," said John Paletti, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of ICE in Miami. "DHS partner agencies here in South Florida are working closely with the U.S. Attorney's Office to ensure that organizations like HACHO are brought to justice."

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Inside ICE is an e-newsletter produced by the ICE Office of Public Affairs to inform the public about the mission, operations and activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Please send comments and contributions to Russ Bergeron, Editor.

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