Texas immigration lawyer arrested on federal charges

DALLAS — A suburban Dallas attorney was arrested Friday on numerous felony charges related to conspiracy and immigration fraud.

This arrest resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Irving (Texas) Police Department.

Sherin Thawer, 45, of Coppell, Texas, was arrested by HSI special agents at her residence. She made her initial appearance on Friday in federal court, and was later released under supervision.  The charges are outlined in a multi-count federal indictment, which was returned by a grand jury and unsealed Friday.

The seven-count indictment charges Thawer with conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with immigration documents, mail fraud, transfer or use of the means of identification of another person, and aggravated identity theft.

According to the indictment, Thawer represented non-U.S. citizens who were making applications to USCIS while applying for various types of visas to enter or remain in the United States, including obtaining a U-Visa. To be eligible for a U-Visa, a non-U.S. citizen must have been a victim of a certain crime, suffered mental or physical abuse as a result of the crime, and helped law enforcement in the investigation and/or prosecution of the crime. In addition to the U-Visa application, applicants are to submit a law enforcement certification form completed and signed by the certifying official for the law enforcement agency that investigated and/or prosecuted the crime for which the alien was a victim. 

The indictment alleges that from about March 2012 through September 2014, Thawer submitted fraudulent law enforcement certification forms to obtain U-Visas for her clients. The certification forms contained the names and badge numbers of police officers that were completed without the knowledge or authorization of the police officers. And the signatures purporting to be those of the named officers were forged.

If convicted Thawer faces a maximum penalty of two years in federal prison for the identity theft charges; 10 years in federal prison for the conspiracy charge, 15 years for the transfer or use of the means of identification charges and up to 20 years for the mail fraud charge. Each of the penalties also includes a maximum $250,000 fine.

The charges in this indictment are only allegations of offenses. The public is reminded that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.