Arlene Hart Sentenced for Mail Fraud Relating to Cw-1 Applications for Foreign Workers

          SHAWN N. ANDERSON, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that defendant Arlene Hart was sentenced on by Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona for two counts of Mail Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341. The convictions were based on the defendant’s participation in a scheme to defraud by submitting fraudulent documents to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) California Service Center in support of CNMI-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) applications for workers from the Philippines. Hart forged the signatures of the workers on the contracts of employment submitted to USCIS, and declared that she had non-temporary, full-time work for the workers, which was not true. Defendant Hart was sentenced to eight months in prison plus four months of home confinement, one year of supervised release after incarceration, and 50 hours of community service.

          United States Attorney Anderson stated, “The CW program was established to sustain the CNMI’s economy during the transition from the former CNMI foreign worker permit system to the U.S. immigration system. The program supplements the local workforce with qualified foreign workers during this ongoing transition period.  However, it was never intended to be a de facto immigration status allowing aliens to seek out their own employment opportunities. Some employers have also been gaming the system by illegally charging workers recruitment fees, and operating illegal manpower agencies by petitioning USCIS for multiple alien workers without having actual jobs available for them. Allocating CW slots to workers without jobs harms the economy by depriving legitimate businesses of the workers they need. The United States Attorney’s Office will continue to pursue these cases as they come to our attention.”

          Special Agents and Task Force Officers from the Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) conducted the investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney James Benedetto prosecuted the case.