ICE officials have announced the break up of a major marriage fraud ring in Texas. According to ICE:

A 72-year-old grandmother who operated a marriage fraud ring for decades was sentenced Sept. 23 to serve 44 months in federal prison. The sentence was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. The case was investigated by the following agencies: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General, the Health and Human Services Commission's Office of Inspector General, and the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General.

Maria Refugia Camarillo was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis following her July 1 guilty plea for conspiring to commit fraud in connection with immigration documents. Judge Solis also ordered Camarillo to serve two years of supervised release. Four of the 16 defendants have yet to be sentenced.

According to documents filed in court, Camarillo, and a number of individuals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, ran the fraudulent scheme beginning in the 1980s and continuing until May 2008. Foreign nationals, who wanted to become U.S. permanent residents, paid Camarillo to arrange a marriage between them and a U.S. citizen. Once married, they applied for U.S. permanent residence and later, U.S. citizenship.

"For decades, this woman ignored immigration laws and even recruited numerous family members to join this conspiracy," said John Chakwin Jr., special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations. "Our ICE-led Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force - comprised of local, state and federal agencies - identified, investigated and prosecuted this woman who thought she was above the law."