Local man nabbed in immigration sting

A St. Augustine man is one of 22 people arrested today and charged with various counts of passport-visa fraud.

According to the indictment handed down by U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement, 30-year-old Janos Tamas and the others carried out a conspiracy involving “visa and asylum fraud”, “marriage fraud”, “making fraudulent statements under oath” and “filing fraudulent documents to obtain drivers’ licenses and Social Security cards”.

Many of the aliens were encouraged to enter or reside in the United States and were kept hidden from authorities.

“Today’s charges reflect the law enforcement community’s steadfast commitment to aggressively target the perpetrators of document and benefit fraud,” said Mark McGraw, Acting Special Agent in Charge for ICE’s Office of Investigations in Washington, D.C. “Schemes such as these pose a significant threat to the United States and its citizens and cannot go unchallenged.”