A Nigerian woman who had the nerve to engage in sham marriage in the United States of America is being made to pay for the act.
File photo used only for illustrative purpose
Euphemia Chinyeaka Okeke, a Nigerian woman resident in Louisville,
Kentucky, United States has admitted that she unlawfully obtained
citizenship by entering into a sham marriage with a Houston man, the
Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez has announced.
According to Sunday Punch, the 41-year-old Euphemia Chinyeaka
Okeke, admitted to marrying a Houston resident and U.S. citizen while in
Nigeria. She then applied for an immigrant visa and alien registration
based on that marriage, claiming her permanent residence would be
Houston.
However, shortly after she arrived in the United States, Okeke
conceived a child and lived in Louisville with Kenneth Okeke, a Nigerian
citizen with no legal status to reside in the United States. Mr. and
Mrs. Okeke have since lived in Louisville and have two children together
there.
In her application for naturalization, however, she testified under
oath and penalty of perjury that since arriving in this country, she
continuously lived in Houston with her purported husband and no one
else, had not lived in any other place in the United States and had no
children. She became a naturalized citizen on September 14, 2011, a
press release from the Southern District of Texas U.S. Attorney’s Office
revealed on Friday.
Less than a month later, Euphemia Okeke filed for divorce. She
married Kenneth Okeke two weeks later and filed a petition for alien
relative in an attempt to obtain lawful immigration status for him. In
that petition, she stated under oath and penalty of perjury that she was
divorced two years before she actually was and that she had lived and
worked in Louisville since arriving in the United States.
U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon accepted the plea and has set
sentencing for Aug. 4, 2017. At that time, Euphemia Okeke faces up to 10
years in federal prison and possible revocation of her citizenship.
Kenneth Okeke is currently in deportation proceedings.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services conducted the
investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Goldman is prosecuting the
case.
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