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ICE arrests another suspect in recruitment scam
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Posted on Jun 07 2011
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested on Sunday another person allegedly involved in a fraudulent scheme to invite Chinese nationals to come to the CNMI as tourists and then work in a bar and farm.
ICE agents arrested Li Hua, a female Chinese national, at Saipan International Airport as she was leaving Saipan for China.
Hua was taken to the U.S. District Court for the NMI on Monday afternoon on charges of six counts of encouraging six aliens to come to the CNMI to unlawfully work while paroled in as tourists.
Hua was allegedly responsible for recruiting the six persons in China, while another defendant, Honglian Cheng, was allegedly responsible for bringing the six to Saipan.
ICE agents arrested Cheng last Friday at the airport as she was leaving Saipan for China.
ICE special agent Isra D. Harahap stated in his affidavit that four Chinese females and the two Chinese males paid about 30,000 RMB or $4,600 each to be brought to the CNMI in order to work.
Harahap said the females are Cuilan Ma, Chunping Li, Lifei Bian, and Shoujun Yin, while the males are Zhongjun Yu and Zhipeng Ren.
Harahap said that Hua and Cheng arrived with the six Chinese nationals in the early morning of May 30, 2011, at Saipan International Airport. During immigration inspection, Hua and the six persons stated that they planned to stay on Saipan for seven days as tourists. Cheng identified herself as the tour group leader for the other seven.
The immigration officers allowed the eight to be paroled into the CNMI until June 15, 2011.
Harahap said their confidential source, who was paid $1,000 to pick up the group at the airport, brought them to a hotel. The confidential source later moved the six to apartments and barracks, then Cheng allegedly gave them job application forms.
