DALLAS (Diya TV) — Federal authorities have indicted two Texas residents and several entities in connection with a sweeping visa fraud and racketeering scheme that exploited the U.S. legal immigration system to obtain green cards and citizenship for foreign nationals.
Abdul Hadi Murshid, 39, and Muhammad Salman Nasir, 35, both originally from Pakistan, face multiple charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, visa fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The two men, along with a law firm and business entity also named in the indictment, are accused of abusing the H-1B, EB-2, and EB-3 visa programs to create a pipeline of fraudulent green card applications.
If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in federal prison.
The indictment alleges Murshid and Nasir orchestrated a sophisticated scheme to fabricate job opportunities by placing classified ads for non-existent positions in a daily periodical. This tactic was designed to satisfy Department of Labor (DOL) requirements that employers first offer jobs to qualified U.S. citizens before sponsoring foreign nationals.
Once the DOL approved the labor certifications, the defendants allegedly submitted fraudulent petitions to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to secure immigrant visas. Prosecutors say the men then helped visa applicants file for permanent residency, falsely claiming employment at jobs that never existed. To maintain the illusion of legitimacy, the defendants funneled payments from visa seekers back to them as supposed payroll, creating fake records of employment.
According to the DOJ, these actions constitute a serious abuse of the nation’s legal immigration pathways and may have broader implications. Federal investigators, including the FBI, now have the opportunity to probe prior clients of the law firm involved and use them as witnesses to uncover other instances of visa-related fraud.
The charges come amid a broader effort by the Biden and Trump administrations alike to tighten enforcement against fraud within white-collar immigration programs. Roughly 1.5 million foreign professionals currently hold white-collar positions in the U.S. through programs such as the H-1B and EB green card tracks. While these programs are intended to fill specialized labor shortages, critics say they are often manipulated to displace qualified American workers and drive down wages.
“These programs create myriad incentives and opportunities for graft, scams, and fraud in the legal migration system,” said a statement from the DOJ. “For decades, the government has done little to find or reduce the fraud, despite the massive damage to Americans’ white-collar professionals, per-capita productivity, and national innovation.”
In response to mounting pressure, officials have pledged to increase enforcement efforts. Matthew Galeotti, chief of the DOJ’s Criminal Division, recently announced that federal immigration violations are now among the department’s top enforcement priorities, alongside procurement fraud and customs violations.
Andrea Lucas, the new head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), echoed that commitment, warning companies and staffing firms that abuse immigration laws to sideline American workers. “If you are part of the pipeline contributing to our immigration crisis or abusing our legal immigration system via illegal preferences against American workers, you must stop,” Lucas said in a recent statement.
Dan Kotchen, an attorney at Kotchen & Low LLP who has filed multiple lawsuits against staffing firms for discrimination and visa fraud, welcomed the DOJ’s renewed focus. “We hope that what they do to enforce laws has teeth and leads to change,” he told reporters. Kotchen has used the False Claims Act to pursue fraud cases where federal enforcement has lagged.
