Immigration Lawyer Gets 1 Year for Falsifying Documents
A Connecticut lawyer was sentenced yesterday to a year and a day in federal prison for falsifying documents to help a client along the path toward legal residency.
Jose del Castillo, 49, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of federal document fraud, reports the Hartford Courant. In addition to the prison term, he was also fined $15,000 by Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny.
“Del Castillo was indicted in late 2006 on nearly two dozen counts of document fraud for filing immigration forms with state and federal officials saying that his clients had legitimate job offers as cooks and hosts at Mamacita’s at the Forge Restaurant, a Broad Street restaurant that he owned earlier in the decade,” the newspaper recounts.
Del Castillo reportedly opened Mamacita’s in March 2001 and filed 100 applications for clients in April 2001, 14 of which were for individuals claiming to have jobs at his restaurant. At the time, illegal immigrants with an employer or family sponsor could pay $1,000 and get a green card, possibly allowing them eventually to become U.S. citizens.
Attorney Joseph Tapper, a past chairman of the Connecticut chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, says del Castillo’s clients could be banned from the country as a result of his conduct, the newspaper article states.
The case could also affect del Castillo’s ability to practice law, if attorney disciplinary action results, the Courant notes.
