Former ICE Lawyer Gets 4 Years In Prison For Stealing Immigrants' Identities
A former senior attorney for ICE has recently been sentenced to 4 years in prison after he was found exploiting the identities of several immigrants who faced deportation.
The former ICE lawyer, Raphael Sanchez, built up a mountain of debt by using various identities that he would steal from undocumented immigrants, then take out credit cards in their name.
The attorney is a former senior lawyer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Seattle and it's reported that he had directed actions of the agency in certain areas for several years. More specifically, he was in charge of immigration removal proceedings in regions like Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. He worked with the agency for almost two decades; more than 17 years.
It's alleged that loneliness and depression had prompted him to make the decision to accumulate the debt and commit fraud.
At various points throughout the immigration removal proceedings, Raphael admits that he had selected certain immigrants to eventually defraud. Information that was obtained from the ICE database was used to create fraudulent documents that could help him acquire the loans and debt.
A variety of documents had been forged using the identities that he had stolen, including things like social security cards and driver's licenses, those were then used to open credit card accounts and to take out personal loans ,and more. It's clear that he abused his authority and the trust that was placed with him, to victimize innocent people, and to capitalize on his position, as others have also pointed out.
Now, aside from receiving several years jail time, he's also been ordered to pay back the funds.
Considering that the chief counsel for the organization felt confident enough to exploit the opportunity to victimize others, might there might be other similar activities taking place that haven't yet come to light? It wasn't like this individual had been a perpetual criminal; it's alleged that he didn't have any prior criminal record before racking up tens of thousands of dollars in debt as he did. He was also making more than $100k per year at the time of his arrest.
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The question my husband asks when stories like this pop up in the news, "Why is power and money so hard to handle?"
Sad news but I am glad that this individual was caught.
How sad and shameful all this, there are still people who want to take advantage of the goodwill of others, but there is the result
This actually does not surprise me, there are people who believe they have power and they are doing evil, everything falls under its own weight
now he has to pay it very expensive he has his due
happy night @doitvoluntarily
Every public servant should have at least double time conviction, he is abusing his power and if they chose a public work it is for serving the tax payers and for being in service to the nation. They should never abuse the power they have!
What he did not is only abuse of power but is fraud and prejudice with advantage and premeditation, so no mercy should be shown with someone that abuses "helpless" (while they are in detention and have no way for defending or complaining or even knowing some one has been using their name) immigrants that only search for a better life for their families.
People do not stop surprising me, it seems that four years of prison is very little, the penalty is little compared to the money you can earn, in five years you have it again doing the same, if you want to eradicate these behaviors the penalties have to be older
thank you very much for sharing this news
I wish you a great day dear friend @doitvoluntarily
Hi,
Looks like a smart guy taking advantage of his knowledge and power.
Big bad immigrants are coming!
..................Poor guys won't even know what hit them until lawers like these have taken them for every penny. Living outside my home theses days made me realize what these poor suckers face.