SANTA ANA, California - An immigration service officer with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) who took thousands of dollars in bribes from immigrants who were seeking either citizenship or lawful permanent resident status in the United States was sentenced today to 30 months in federal prison.
Mai Nhu Nguyen, 48, of Irvine, was sentenced by United States District Judge Josephine L. Staton.
From 2011 through June 2013, Nguyen solicited and took bribes from Vietnamese immigrants. In one case, Nguyen took $1,000 from an immigrant seeking a “Green Card" and 200 egg rolls from an immigrant seeking citizenship.
Nguyen, who worked at USCIS’s Santa Ana office for approximately eight years and is now on leave, was an immigration service officer with the power to approve or deny applications for immigration benefits that are submitted by immigrants.
The case against Nguyen is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.
Release No. 14-134
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
