Cutler: Visa Fraud in Milwaukee – Unanswered Questions

By Michael W. Cutler

An investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) resulted in the arrest earlier this week of a 30-year-old Indian national residing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sagarsen Haldar, who owns and operates a local Hindu temple, was charged with attempting to obtain religious worker visas for some 33 Indian nationals who in reality had no religious training and were working at various jobs having nothing to do with religion. Haldar allegedly charged each of his “clients” $30,000.

Certainly, that the defendant in this case has been arrested and charged is positive. However, the circumstances raise a number of troubling questions.

• First of all, how did Mr. Haldar obtain his lawful status in the United States?  Did he himself engage in some sort of fraud in order to obtain a visa?  What sort of visa was he granted? Does he have a green card based on a marriage to a United States citizen or resident alien, for example?  Has an investigation been conducted into the basis for his visa?

• And what about the visas issues to his “clients” or co-conspirators? How long ago was the first of these visas issued? Did all of this occur within the past year or two or has the fraudulent activity been going on for a number of years?

• Has ICE identified the “religious workers” whom Mr. Haldar assisted? Have they been taken into custody? Will they also be criminally prosecuted for their part in the conspiracy? Will they be removed (deported) from the U. S. along with any family members they may have brought with them on their fraudulently-obtained visas?

• In what activities were these 33 individuals engaged? $30,000 is a high price to pay to enter this country illegally. Think how many years it would take for a minimum wage worker to repay that amount, after covering his own expenses and sending a few dollars back home. It could take nearly a lifetime for such a debt to be repaid by someone making under ten dollars an hour!

• Were there any other conspirators involved, perhaps acting as intermediaries? How did the 33 individuals come to know about Mr. Haldar?

• Is ICE or the State Department investigating the U.S. embassy or consulate that issued the visas to these individuals? Were there corrupt officials cooperating with Mr. Haldar? If so, did these officials work with other fraudulent petitioners? If so, have the their respective “clients,” who might already be in the United States, been identified?

• Mr. Haldar ran a religious temple in Milwaukee. Was the temple being used  to provide cover for other crimes such as tax fraud, money laundering or even more serious crimes, perhaps involving national security?

So many questions!

Now, consider just how rare such prosecutions are, mainly due to the lack of ICE special agents to monitor the issuance of visas and the assignment of immigrant benefits. Of the 94 terrorists identified as operating in the United States in the decade leading up to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, 59 were found to have engaged in visa or immigration fraud. Which means about two-thirds of those terrorists gamed the system in order to enter our country and/or embed themselves in our communities.

Michael W. Cutler (michaelcutler.net) spent thirty years with the INS, eleven as a senior special agent. An authority on the nexus of immigration and national security, Cutler has testified in more than a dozen Congressional hearings since 9/11/2001. He appears frequently on radio and television, and hosts an internet radio show, Bordering on Insanity!, Fridays at  7:00 PM eastern on www.repatriotradio.com or www.libertyandfreedomradio.net.