Editor's Comments of the Day

The Washington Post reports on a 61-count indictment filed in US District Court in Alexandria alleging 320 false applications on behalf of 270 people in 1997 and 1998 under the EB-5 employment creation program. According to the article Interbank Group told clients that they could qualify for the program with just $100,000 to $150,000 in cash. Interbank then used a complicated series of financial transactions to make it appear that their clients had invested the minimum $500,000. Virtually all the clients lost their money, according to the indictment, and more than a dozen have sued Interbank in Washington area federal and state courts, writes the Washington Post. The victims may never recover their money. We recently carried an article on EB-5 Immigrant Investors. Anyone reading the article should question how a $150,000 cash investment could satisfy the minimum investment requirement for the visa. Education is the best protection against fraudulent visa schemes.

INS News of the Day

INS Launches Sweeping Crackdown Against Migrant Smugglers
The INS announces the start of Operation Denial, a program that seeks to curb the victimization and violence in alien smuggling in the greater Phoenix area. The goal of the initiative is to choke smugglers' access to the networks that enable them to move their human cargo. The networks include airports, major highways and local residences being used as "drop houses" to hide smuggled migrants.