A "ringleader" has been sentenced and several other suspects charged in Illinois in connection with a widespread conspiracy to defraud the federal immigration system by helping noncitizens seek visa protections reserved for crime victims who assist law enforcement.
Parth Nayi of Illinois was sentenced Thursday to two years in federal prison for participating in hundreds of staged armed robberies at small businesses and eateries in and around Chicago and helping "coach" the supposed " victims" through plans to apply for U visas in exchange for cash.
"[Nayi] was the main organizer and at the center of almost every single one of the hundreds of staged robberies that were perpetrated. [The] defendant significantly corrupted the federal U-Visa program, designed to provide a benefit to a particularly vulnerable group—foreign nationals who are victims of serious crimes while visiting the United States," Assistant U.S. Attorney Saqib Mohammad Hussain wrote in the case’s sentencing memo.
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Thousands of people posing as crime victims paid Nayi to participate in the scheme, prosecutors said.
Alleged co-conspirators Bhikhabhai Patel, Nilesh Patel, Ravinaben Patel and Rajnikumar Patel reached out to Nayi to pose as victims of the staged robberies so they could apply for U visas, which were created under a 2000 law meant to protect trafficking victims and "battered immigrant women."
Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., lead sponsor of the anti-trafficking legislation that created the U visa, expressed outrage over the alleged abuse of the program.
"Anyone who engages in visa fraud or falsifies claims to obtain any government benefit should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and if guilty, jailed," Smith told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
"It is especially egregious to abuse a program designed to help victims of human trafficking — often women and children — who are cooperating with police and are working to recover from their extraordinary trauma. We must hold abusive criminals accountable."
Prosecutors said Nayi and another suspect, Kewon Young, recruited people to serve as armed "robbers" who at times "struck purported victims to make the staged robbery appear real."
Nayi and alleged co-conspirator Kewon Young organized and participated in staged robberies of shops and bodegas.
After the "robberies," the purported victims would be coached to submit I-918 supplements to law enforcement so authorities could certify that they had been victims of a violent crime and could seek U visas.
An I-918 form would then be submitted to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) seeking protected legal status in the United States.
Purported victims paid Nayi as much as $30,000 to take part in the staged robberies, prosecutors said. During one robbery, a store employee was critically injured by a gunshot fired by one of the alleged assailants.
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During a July 2023 "robbery" at a Chicago liquor store, one of the alleged assailants accidentally discharged his weapon and "critically" injured an employee, according to CWB Chicago. The perpetrators then fled in a stolen vehicle, according to the outlet.
Fox News Digital reached out to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for comment.
Johnson has repeatedly lambasted federal immigration enforcement, particularly under the Trump administration, likening its actions to an America that appears as if the "Confederacy won" the Civil War.
Bhikhabhai Patel allegedly posed as a victim at a Chicago Dunkin' in 2023 before filing a fraudulent U visa application.
Ravinaben Patel allegedly posed as a victim at a second Dunkin' and filed a false police report about the incident.
The 2024 indictment identified more than a dozen locations used in the scheme, including businesses outside Illinois, such as a Subway in Louisiana and a truck stop in Middle Tennessee.
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The DOJ’s indictment indicates five others besides Nayi have been convicted but does not specify their names.
Fox News Digital reached out to USCIS, DHS and ICE for comment.