Federal officials announced today that they have created task forces designed to combat document, immigration and benefits fraud in Denver and nine other major U.S. cities.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will bring together investigators from a variety of agencies to target criminal organizations that make counterfeit identity documents and otherwise help non-citizens improperly obtain U.S. citizenship.
“These new task forces are badly needed to help combat the significant threats posed by document and benefit fraud schemes,” ICE Assistant Secretary Julie Myers said in a written statement.
The agents from various federal agencies, including the Department of Labor, Social Security Administration and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, will work with U.S. Attorney’s offices to form a plan to target the criminal organizations involved.
If a link to terrorism is discovered, the case would be referred to the appropriate Joint Terrorism Task Force, according to a news release issued by ICE.
Along with the Denver task force, the other “Document and Benefit Fraud Task Forces” will be located in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Newark, NJ; Philadelphia, and St. Paul, MN.
The 10 new task forces build upon the success of an existing document and benefit fraud task force in the Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia.
Staff writer Alicia Caldwell can be reached at 303-820-1930 or at acaldwell@denverpost.com.
