The Chinese people are not our enemies, but their government is not our friend, a Texas Republican says.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) this week announced it has charged 11 people in an alleged 10-year scam involving more than 1,000 “fraud” marriages primarily serving Chinese nationals for the purpose of gaining lawful permanent U.S. residency.
These Chinese nationals seeking immigration status allegedly paid up to $100,000 for a sham marriage and assistance with the immigration process.
U.S. citizens willing to participate allegedly received up to $30,000.
The conspirators allegedly staged weddings, took photographs, created joint bank and cellphone accounts, filed joint tax returns and purchased insurance policies to make the marriages look genuine.
After the Chinese national obtained permanent residency, the facilitators allegedly helped the couple obtain a divorce.
The marriage scam is separate from Chinese nationals using a “birth tourism” business. That international fraud, which takes advantage of U.S. law, is done so children born on U.S. soil are recognized as U.S. citizens.
Chinese women typically returned to China within one or two months after giving birth, after obtaining U.S. legal documents for their children, according to the DOJ.
“Wherever you are, you have to be very alert that China's working overtime to undermine our country. They're not our friends, even though for the last few decades, they have kind of smiled and pretended they were opening themselves up to capitalism and the like,” Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) said on “Washington Watch” Thursday.
Cloud told show host Jody Hice that Chinese government is working through its “hundred-year plan” for “global domination.”
The United Kingdom would like a word.
The UK defense ministry recently discovered that cameras installed on its drone boats used by the Royal Marines and Britian’s Special Boat Service were transmitting automated communications to an internet address in China.
The problem was discovered during a routine cyber-vulnerability assessment. The cameras were sending what are called “heartbeat” communications — automated signals essentially telling a remote system that the camera was online and functioning. The transmissions were going to an IP address in China.
“This, of course, would be no good for the United States, our kids or our grandkids, but it would be devastating for the world and for free people everywhere,” Cloud said.
This week’s announced indictment alleges that recruiters for China’s marriage scam targeted at least 14 active-duty soldiers — 11 at a U.S. Army base in Kentucky which was not named.
Wedding operatives also worked in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida.
No Chinese citizen leaves China without permission from the government, Cloud noted.
“They’re also coming into our institutions under student visas and working in our highest-level research programs. Then they get an HB-1 visa to work in our most sensitive areas of technology and the like,” Cloud said.
