ICE Attorney Sentenced to 17 Years In Federal Prison for Immigration Fraud

Shocking story out of the EOIR Los Angeles Immigration Court that a senior government attorney, representing Homeland Security was engaged in immigration fraud. ICE Assistant Chief Counsel Constantine Peter Kallas, 40, of Alta Loma, received a 17⅔-year sentence from United States District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr yesterday in federal court.

“Mr. Kallas has received one of the longest sentences ever seen in a public corruption case,” said United States Attorney André Birotte Jr. “Mr. Kallas took in hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes—money he obtained by exploiting his knowledge of the immigration system. The lengthy sentence reflects the seriousness of the crimes, which were a wholesale violation of the public trust.”

Following a three-week trial, a federal jury in April 2010 convicted Kallas of three dozen felony counts—conspiracy, six counts of bribery, two counts of obstruction of justice, seven counts of fraud and misuse of entry documents, three counts of aggravated identity theft, nine counts of making false statements to the Department of Labor, four counts of making false statements to obtain federal employee compensation, and four counts of tax evasion.

“This case presents an epic display of a public official’s greed,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court.

“As a corrupt prosecutor, [Kallas] calculatingly terrorized the idea of justice and the concept of public service,” the memorandum continued. “[Kallas] carried out his crime scheme through elaborate forms of manipulation, lies, and obstructive conduct.”

He charged his housekeeper $7,000 and then told the immigration judge that she had provided material testimony in another matter and the court terminated deportation proceedings.

The full Press Release Is Here

Oral Arguments Tomorrow Before the First District Court of Appeals

Tomorrow I have 20 minute oral argument before the First District Court of Appeals, where I represent the Appellant in an appeal of his criminal conviction for one count of violating Penal Code section 182(a)(1) - conspiracy.

The issue raised on appeal is whether the prosecution is time barred, as the initiation of the proceeding tolled by virtue of obtaining an arrest warrant, was more than 3 years after the Last Overt Act in furtherance of the intended conspiracy.

The AG's Office is contending that conspiracy to commit computer fraud is subject the the statute of limitations for the substantive offense, computer fraud. Which under Penal Code section 801.5 and 803(c) is both tolled until the discovery of the fraud and the subject to a 4-year statutory period.

My claim is that under California Case Law, the crime of conspiracy is a stand alone and separate inchoate crime, which the courts have held to be subject to the 3-year period, pursuant to Penal Code section 801.

However, there does not seem to be a case directly on point and this is the issue presented before the court.

Exception to the Harsh Consequences of the Adam Walsh Act's Bar to Immigration

There is a very interesting legal argument to be made concerning the standard of review USCIS imposes on a petitioner seeking a discretionary grant to the Adam Walsh Act ("AWA") prohibition for an immigration benefit.

In interpreting the statutory mandate that a discretionary exception to an AWA bar be available to a petitioner who poses “no risk” to the alien beneficiary, the Service has adopted, as a matter of policy, the highest possible burden of proof—beyond a reasonable doubt. Does the use of this heightened burden go beyond the express terms of the statute? And is it a permissible use of the agency’s discretion?

Last year, the AAO reaffirmed the long understood principle that a petitioner or applicant in administrative immigration proceedings must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he or she is eligible for the benefit sought. Matter of Chawathe, 25 I & N Dec. 369 (AAO 2010), citing Matter of Martinez, 21 I & N Dec. 1035, 1036 (BIA 1997) (noting that the petitioner must prove eligibility by a preponderance of evidence in visa petition proceedings).

The only exception to this default standard would be those instances where a different standard was specified by law (for example, the heightened standard for proving the bona fides of a marriage entered into during proceedings).

The AWA contains no language heightening the standard of proof. Therefore, it can be argued that the AWA should properly be read to require that a petitioner who has been convicted of a specified offense against a minor submit evidence that demonstrates, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he or she poses no risk to the safety and well being of the beneficiary.

Arizona Style Law Already on the Books for Interrogations by Immigration Officers

I was looking at the rules governing a Motion to Suppress Evidence in an immigration court, such as a non-voluntary statement, and the rules governing the Fourth Amendment and the Exclusionary Rule as they pertain to the immigration proceedings, and much to my surprise, the courts, even the Ninth Circuit, has already given broad powers to immigration officers to interrogate anyone suspected of being an alien.

It is only a small step to giving the same powers to a state law enforcement officer. Interesting con law issue, but much closer than I would have suspected initially.

"Any immigration officer has the power, without warrant, to interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his or her right to be or remain in the United States." INA § 287(a)(1); 8 C.F.R. § 1287.5; Cervantes v. United States, 263 F.2d 800 (9th Cir. 1959); Matter of Pang, 11 I&N Dec. 213 (BIA 1965).

"There is no requirement that the officer must have probable cause for such an inquiry." Matter of Perez-Lopez, 14 I&N Dec. 79 (BIA 1972).

Sixth Circuit Invalidates the BIA's Post Departure Bar Rule

One of our cases currently pending at the Ninth Circuit raises the same issue, does the Board of Immigration Appeals lose jurisdiction to decide a Motion once the alien leaves the U.S.? The BIA has consistently held, yes, and the government has used this quirk in the regulations to quickly remove someone before the BIA rules on a pending motion.

For instance, our client was taken into ICE custody, we filed a motion to reopen along with an emergency motion for stay. The BIA denies the stay motion, never rules on the motion to reopen, and ICE puts our client on a plane back to his home country. The only recourse left to us was to file a petition for review with the circuit court. DOJ moved to dismiss the petition on the basis of no final order, as the motion to reopen was still pending, and the 9th Circuit issued an OSC. Our response was to invoke the BIA's "Post-Departure Bar Rule" as violating our client's procedural due process rights. Now the Sixth Circuit has agreed with our analysis of the BIA's rule.


"Pruidze’s petition for review raises one question: Does the Board of Immigration Appeals lack jurisdiction to consider an alien’s motion to reopen once the alien is no longer in the United States? The answer is no." Pruidze v. Holder, Feb. 3, 2011.

ICE Raids Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton - Alleges Massive Immigration Fraud

Over the weekend last, Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) initiated a raid on Tri-Valley University, seizing assets, records, and throwing the immigration status of over 1,500 students into jeopardy. Just today, we have two former students in our office seeking help with their cases.

Here is a news report from the Economic Times of India on the repercussions of the raid.

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Hundreds of Indian students , mostly from Andhra Pradesh , face the prospect of deportation from the US after authorities raided and shut down a university in the Silicon Valley on charges of a massive immigration fraud .

The Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton, a major suburb in San Francisco Bay Area, has been charged by federal investigating authorities with being part of an effort to defraud, misuse visa permits and indulge in money laundering and other crimes.

According to a federal complaint filed in a California court, the University, which was raided and shut down last week, helped foreign nationals illegally acquire immigration status.

The university is said to have 1,555 students. As many as 95 per cent of these students are Indian nationals, the complaint said.

Investigations by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) found that while students were admitted to various residential and online courses of the university and on paper lived in California, in reality they "illegally" worked in various parts of the country as far as Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

ICE has called it as a "sham university." The ICE investigations found that more than half of these students were reported to be residing in a single apartment located in Sunnyvale California.

During the course of the investigation ICE found that the university gave the residential address of its students in order to conceal that they did not live in California, said the court papers.

For a student to maintain an active immigration status, they must show proof that they are making reasonable process towards completing coursework and physically attend classes.

Federal investigating authorities are now sweeping out on each of those students, who paid lakhs for obtaining students visa and also students work permit.

Several of them have been interrogated, creating a panic reaction among the Indian student community.

Many of the students from Andhra Pradesh, who were planning to join the university for the new semester, have cancelled their US travel plans.

Classes were scheduled to start on January 10 after the winter break.

It is understood that many of these students are planning to leave the country as soon as possible as they are being interrogated.

There are unconfirmed reports of some of the students being detained and deportation process has been started against them.

Once the university has been shut down, the students who come on F-1 visa, lose their status within a stipulated time. These students have been making desperate calls to Indian- American immigration attorneys.

"We have received verification that ICE has detained some of the students and placed them in removal proceedings," Murthy Law Firm, a popular immigration attorney firm among Indian-Americans, said in a posting on its website.

Recent 9th Circuit Unpublished Decision Finding Homosexuality a Basis For Asylum for a Chilean National

Here is the slip opinion for the court. This decision is of interest to our office because we have a similar claim for asylum / withholding based upon bisexuality of an man from Yemen, under Sharia Law.


Fonseco Rojo v. Holder