Seven employees of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and twenty-six others have been charged in a bribery scheme in which INS officials allegedly sold fraudulent immigration documents in exchange for more than $100,000.

This is the third fraud scheme uncovered in the last few years and is undoubtedly one of the most serious. INS officials are alleged to actually have accepted bribes inside the INS' Manhattan office.

Five of the indicted officials are immigration examiners who interview applicants for green cards. Two other low level officials were charged as well as several brokers who accepted the money for the bribes from their clients and offered the bribes to the INS officials. One immigration lawyer, Francois Au of New York, was charged as well. The investigation began after co-workers reported suspicious activities including people being scheduled for interviews at the last second. FBI officials gathered much of their evidence by using wiretaps.

According to US Attorney Mary Jo White, one immigration examiner is alleged to have wiped out an applicant's criminal record from the file. Other cases involved immigration officers agreeing not to closely examine whether marriages forming the basis of an application were bona fide.

The US Attorney did point out that it is not actually clear that the immigrants on whose behalf bribes were paid actually knew that bribes were being paid for them. It has not yet been announced whether any of the immigrants involved would face deportation.

The accused defendants will face charges of conspiracy, bribery and immigration fraud.