DHS/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL: “The top lawyer for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Seattle has been charged with trying to steal the identities of seven people who were in immigration proceedings.
The ICE chief counsel, Raphael A. Sanchez, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to court documents filed on Monday in United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. He allegedly used the personal information ‘to obtain money and property by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses’ when their cases were under review by ICE, the charging document said…
Mr. Sanchez is scheduled to make his first appearance in court on Thursday, his lawyer, Cassandra Stamm, said in an email. She confirmed Mr. Sanchez had resigned from his job effective on Monday, but declined to provide further details.
The Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section, which pursues efforts to combat corruption by public officials, is overseeing the case… Officials from the Justice Department and ICE declined to provide further details about Mr. Sanchez’s responsibilities and the amount of time he had been on the job.”
-Christine Hauser, “ICE Lawyer Charged With Stealing Immigrants’ Identities,” The New York Times online, Feb. 14, 2018