United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein announces that today U.S. District Court Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. sentenced Maqsood Mir, 52, an immigration lawyer practicing in Potomac, Maryland, to 78 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release in connection with his April 14, 2005 conviction by a federal jury of immigration fraud related to the filing of false immigration documents that allowed illegal aliens to enter and/or remain in the United States. The Judge also ordered Mir to pay a $25,000 fine and Mir Law Associates to pay a $200,000 fine.
The jury determined that Maqsood Mir; his law firm, Mir Law Associates, LLC; Bajwa, 39, of Herndon, Virginia, a businessman and sponsoring employer; and Bajwa’s construction company,
New Superstar Corporation, were guilty of various charges of filing false labor certifications. Mir
Law Associates, Bajwa and New Superstar Corporation were also convicted of conspiracy to submit
false labor certifications and substantive immigration fraud counts.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein stated, “Lawyers are supposed to advise people how to comply with the law, not help them violate it. The defendants’ fraudulent scheme undermined America’s immigration and labor laws.”
Gordon S. Heddell, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Labor, said “Today’s sentencing of this corrupt attorney brings an end to this scheme to defraud governmental programs. My office is committed to continuing our close working relationship with other law enforcement agencies to protect the integrity of the foreign labor certification process.”
According to trial testimony, Mir, Bajwa and others took advantage of a program administered by the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services in which aliens, upon receiving an approved labor certification, could enter or remain in the United States in order to work for a United States employer. Testimony showed that beginning in 1998 and continuing until 2003, Mir and Bajwa falsified labor certification applications to make it appear as if the aliens in fact existed and that they were to be sponsored by and work for U.S. employers, when in fact many of those employers knew nothing about the aliens. Testimony showed that some of the aliens’ names were fictitious, and Mir and Bajwa offered for sale and sold approved immigration documents to
those aliens willing to pay for them.
Bajwa is scheduled to be sentenced on October 7, 2005. Co-defendant Abdul Javaid is scheduled to be sentenced on October 3, 2005 and co-defendant Zulfiqar Ali was sentenced on September 19, 2005 to 15 months imprisonment.
United States Attorney Rosenstein commended the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for their investigati