Federal authorities busted a Massachusetts woman who ran a $6 million scheme that helped hundreds of illegal immigrants obtain immigration status in the United States through fake marriages.
U.S. Attorney Leah Foley revealed the shocking details of the case in which six individuals were charged during a press conference on Wednesday. The alleged “mastermind” behind the operation, Jennifer Gonzalez, a 43-year-old American citizen, allegedly conducted it for over a decade, charging her so-called customers between $38,000 and $40,000 to enter into the sham marriages, Foley said.
Gonzalez allegedly facilitated roughly 18 to 20 marriages each year, according to the Justice Department.
Five of the accused were arrested Wednesday morning, Foley said.
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“Every single day, thousands of hardworking people are going through the immigration process legally and properly,” Foley said. “The naturalization ceremonies that take place here in this courthouse are truly wonderful and moving celebrations. What an affront the alleged conduct revealed here today must be to those who played by the rules.”
“To see a for-profit business whose sole purpose is helping people cheat and skip the line by simply paying for it must be so offensive and disheartening to those who follow our country’s laws. It is alleged that Ms. Gonzalez got rich off selling the American dream all the while investing her money in another country,” she added.
Gonzalez allegedly paid her co-conspirators to marry illegal aliens and had them take couples’ photos so they could obtain immigration status without setting off alarm bells. The marriages typically lasted a few years before the couples would divorce.
When the marriages ended, the cooperating American citizens would allegedly go on to enter into another fake marriage with another illegal alien.
“It was long enough so that it wasn’t suspicious,” Foley said.
In one recording taken by a “cooperating witness,” Gonzalez complained that it became “more challenging” to run the alleged scheme “under the new administration” due to harsher immigration policies that she said forced her to shut her business down.
“She is captured on video stating that she stopped doing weddings at the end of 2024 because ‘that’s when Trump was becoming a president.’ Gonzalez stated that she married a batch of people and made sure they had their documents. She then claimed that she suspended her business in 2025 because immigration was ‘a little harsh,'” Foley said.
Gonzalez also allegedly confessed to a cooperating witness whom she thought was an illegal alien that “Massachusetts is the best place for you to be … because this state is a sanctuary where illegal aliens get a lot of help as an immigrant here.”
While running the ring, Gonzalez allegedly spent $124,500 in SNAP benefits, which she received by not disclosing her earnings from the marriages or sharing information about her own fraudulent marriage to an illegal alien.
All the while, Gonzalez referred to the father of her children as her “husband,” Foley said.
Her alleged co-conspirators also applied to taxpayer-funded benefits while failing to inform the federal government about their sham marriages.
Gonzalez then allegedly sent her earnings to the Dominican Republic to purchase businesses and property.
“She bragged that she invested her ill-gotten proceeds in businesses and property in the Dominican Republic, who she repeatedly referred to as ‘my country,'” Foley said.
“In one recorded conversation, she claimed ‘every time I have a spare dollar I just invest in new property in my country,'” she said. “‘That’s what I really do, I like to buy land, like I have a lot of land in my country.’ She further stated ‘my kids love my country, my kids love to vacation down there. All right so when they grow up, they’ll each have a land, they’ll have some.”
Along with going after the alleged fraudsters, Foley vowed to “prosecute,” “denaturalize,” and “deport” the illegal immigrants who obtained status through Gonzalez’ alleged scheme.
“She was operating with impunity under the last administration,” Foley said. “This administration has made it clear, all types of fraud, including marriage fraud, SNAP fraud, health care fraud, whatever is going to be prosecuted.”
Gonzalez, an American citizen who was born in the United States, has previous convictions in Massachusetts for assault and battery, identity fraud, fraud, illegal entry without breaking in, possession of burglar’s tools, and knowingly receiving stolen property, according to the Justice Department.
She and her co-conspirators are charged with conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens, harboring illegal aliens, conspiracy to commit marriage fraud, and marriage fraud.
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