Broward County business owner sentenced for immigration fraud scheme

MIAMI – A Coral Springs, Florida, business owner was sentenced to prison Wednesday for her role in a visa fraud immigration scheme. The sentence was a result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Jenny Hernandez, 51, of Parkland, Florida, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after previously pleading guilty to visa fraud. Hernandez attempted to obtain visas with false information for individuals from overseas.

According to court records, Hernandez knowingly made false material statements on immigration documents, specifically Form I-140s, which are immigrant petitions for alien workers. Hernandez owned and operated the Immigration Form Center Inc. (IFC) in Coral Springs. The defendant stated in applications she filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that individuals from overseas were to be employed at certain businesses as executives or managers. However, these businesses never knew about these individuals, and furthermore, never made employment offers to them. Hernandez profited from these misrepresentations, by receiving between $14,200 and $50,900 from individual applicants. Hernandez also filed an application for an overseas individual to work at her bakery in Coral Springs, as an executive or manager, when the individual was only selling jewelry inside the bakery. This individual paid $64,000 to the defendant.

In addition to these documents, Hernandez filed I-485 applications, which are petitions to for lawful permanent residency, on behalf of other individuals. These payments were deposited into business checking accounts primarily controlled by the defendant.

Hernandez has a restitution hearing scheduled for Dec. 18.