Pave: Scamming The French American Dream

Le jour 433 de Sarko

Mes chers compatriotes, il faut croire en la France.

[My dear compatriots, it is necessary to believe in France.]

Then-Jack, Now Ex-Jack,
then-Président de la République,
trying to resuscitate Tinkerbell France
PALAIS DE L'ÉLYSÉE, Paris 31 décembre 2005 (Élysée)

We were sent this curious story yesterday:

FRENCH COUPLE CHARGED WITH IMMIGRATION FRAUD IN LA

LOS ANGELES July 4, 2008 (Mercury News/AP) - Deborah Sion, 25, was arrested in Van Nuys Thursday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after being charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and transfer of false identification documents. Also charged in the case is her husband Isaac Peres, 27, who is in custody in France, where he is facing charges in an unrelated fraud scheme.

According to court documents, the couple posted ads on the Internet offering jobs for French workers at restaurants in the Los Angeles area and casinos in Las Vegas. Sion told interested applicants she could help them get legal immigration status through a green card lottery program and that application for the program cost between 1500 to 2700 Euros (or $2,358 to $4,244), depending on additional services such as travel and housing assistance she could sell to the victims.

The U.S. government does not charge a fee to apply to the Diversity Lottery Program, [U.S. attorney's spokesman Thom] Mrozek said.

... Several victims discovered the fraud when they were stopped at U.S. airports and told they couldn't enter the country, or when they went to the American consulate in Paris and were told the cards were fake. Philippe Larrieu, the French consul general in Los Angeles, said Sion and Peres stole from more than 100 victims.

Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of ICE's Los Angeles office:

Sadly, the people who fell victim to this scheme genuinely believed the defendants had ties to the United States government and were selling legitimate 'green cards'. Our nation's immigration benefits are not for sale.

Sion and Peres each face up to 57 years in prison if convicted.

[Hat tip: Carine]

We are shocked! Shocked!

[A long pause as we allow several successive waves of shock to ripple off. We consider a cigarette, but realize we do not smoke.]

Perhaps our disbelief is your disbelief. Perhaps our questions are your questions. How could such a scheme come about? Where would magouilleurs find the Frenchies who would leave France, Paradise itself, to moil in the trenches of "dark America"? How could such a scheme ever reach the proportions detailed in the report? Why would Frenchies emigrate to America for a better life when they already experience life as-good-as-it-will-ever-be in France, in Paradise?

Here, here, here, here, here, here, and here -- these are partial answers. But emigrate to America? Has France been brought so low? Shocking!

PFFT (What is this?): Shocking ½ | Scamming the American dream 4½ | Rayonnement français 0