Texas twins sentenced for selling phony visas

Twin brothers were sent to federal prison for more than two years each today for their role in bringing 88 immigrants from India to this country on phony visas costing at least $20,000 each.

Houston U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas sentenced Alberto Pena to 41 months in prison and his brother Bernardo to 30 months in prison on 16 counts each. In April, the 40-year-old brothers from Brownsville were found guilty by a jury on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and 14 counts of encouraging and inducing illegal immigration.

The Pena brothers and others made $1.8 million by helping 88 people from Gujarat, India unlawfully enter the U.S. on 10-month visas, knowing they did not intend to work for the company used to get their visas nor to return to India when the visas expired, said U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson in a written statement.

The visas were the H-2B variety, which allows employers to hire alien workers for temporary non-agricultural jobs.

Trial evidence showed a Louisiana construction company owner hired the brothers and others to find laborers from Mexico but the brothers also used the company as a front to sell the visas for $20,000 to $60,000 in India.

Several of the Pena brothers' codefendants have yet to be sentenced in this case investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of State, the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor

(Edit:Ruby)