Democrats won’t want to find out that the marriage-fraud and green card scams by Chinese nationals is real, not a figment of Trump’s imagination.

The Justice Department unveiled criminal charges against 11 people on Wednesday, alleging they participated in an “extensive marriage fraud scheme” that involved more than 1,000 “sham marriages” between Chinese nationals and U.S. citizens.

The 21-page indictment, secured in New York’s Southern District, alleged that the marriage scheme ran from 2016 to 2026, and was facilitated by defendants Amy Cheng, Xiao Mei Chan and Gang Zheng.

At a press conference announcing the charges, Attorney General Todd Blanche called the case “one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in United States history.”

“This scheme was not a quick fly-by-night operation, but rather a yearslong, multi-million-dollar cottage industry to criminally assist people who would not or legally could not otherwise become citizens of the United States,” Blanche said.

Per the DOJ announcement, this wasn’t something that started recently. No, it all started in 2016. 

According to the indictment, from at least 2016 through July 2026, the defendants operated a nationwide and international marriage fraud network that arranged sham marriages between foreign nationals — primarily citizens of the People’s Republic of China — and United States citizens. Although based principally in New York City, the network allegedly arranged sham marriages throughout the United States and overseas including in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Vanuatu, and China.

The network included facilitators who oversaw the scheme and identified foreign-national customers; recruiters who found willing United States citizens and helped ensure their continued participation; and assistants who prepared immigration paperwork and coordinated the submission of fraudulent lawful permanent residency (Green Card) applications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The scheme also relied on marriage officiants, attorneys, tax preparers, insurance providers, and other service providers.

Foreign nationals paid facilitators as much as approximately $100,000 for a sham marriage and assistance obtaining lawful permanent resident status. Facilitators, in turn, allegedly paid participating U.S. citizens up to about $30,000 — generally in installments tied to milestones in the Green Card application process — and paid recruiters commissions of as much as approximately $5,000 for each citizen recruited. In total, the defendants and their co-conspirators recruited hundreds of U.S. citizens to enter into sham marriages.

The 11 fraudsters certainly made quite a bit of money off their scheme. And defrauded the United States as well. Of the 11 indicted, only one of them is American. The rest are Chinese citizens. 

The scheme had some bizarre elements to it. 

The sham wedding ring used advertisements on social media platforms, held phony marraige ceremonies and even had both parties to the fake unions sign bizarre pre-nuptial agreements, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York alleged.

One of those agreements expressly stated that “except in the name of husband and wife, both parties live independently and must not interfere with each other,” according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Each defendant faces charges of conspiring to commit marriage fraud and immigration document fraud as well as conspiracy to encourage the unlawful residence of aliens in the US.

Yes, that’s definitely a weird aspect of the case. 

However, the larger issue is that this is the tip of the iceberg concerning birth right tourism and citizenship. This particular ring perpetrated fraud over 1,000 times that the DOJ knows of. 

Over 1,000 sham marriages running for a decade is an insane scale for a single enterprise. Mass fraud like this completely undermines trust for everyone going through the legal process.

— QA Erik (@zzl0elqq) August 12, 2026

How many other rings are operating out there? Likely many more than we think, especially given the marriage scams that were part of the much larger fraud scandals in Minnesota. 

Here’s another question. Will the fraudsters who paid for these sham marriages ALSO get indicted and prosecuted? 

Feature Photo Credit: $100 bill and wedding rings via iStock, cropped and modified