Fake Immigration Document Gets DR Nationals Busted

News Americas, SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Thurs. Oct. 15, 2015: Two Dominican Republic nationals could face 10 years in jail if convicted of fraudulent use of visas and other documents.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) San Juan Office of Field Operations officers arrested Riensil Domingo Betances-Brito and Héctor Bienvenido Hernandez-Vasquez for having an altered immigration stamp inside their passports, as proof of legal presence.

Both Betances-Brito and Hernandez-Vasquez were found at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport before boarding an American Airlines flight destined to JFK in New York City.

As proof of authorized presence in the United States, both men presented CBP officers a Dominican Republic passport, containing a Citizenship and Immigration Service ADIT Stamp.

An Alien Documentary Identification and Telecommunication (ADIT) Stamp is provided to a Legal Permanent Resident as provisional evidence of his or her resident status,  when the “Green Card” is lost, stolen, to be replaced or was never received.

Both passengers were escorted to secondary inspection, where examination of the stamp revealed that the ADIT Stamps had been altered.

They appeared earlier this week before US Magistrate Judge Camille Velez Rive.

“CBP officers seek to detect and apprehend persons who try to use fraudulent documents to elude detection and break our laws,” stated Marcelino Borges, Director of Field Operations for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.