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Ex-immigration officer faces jail time for harboring illegal
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WASHINGTON (Map, News) - A former federal immigration service investigator faces up to 10 years in prison today as he is sentenced for harboring his illegal-alien girlfriend.
Lloyd Miner was a career immigration-enforcement officer who helped create an internal affairs unit for the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service. But shortly after a top-ranking service official was charged with taking bribes to hand out visas to Asian immigrants, Miner found himself under investigation.
Last year, a federal jury in Northern Virginia convicted him of harboring his girlfriend, Somoun, a Mongolian native he said he met at a club in 2005.
Prosecutors have asked for at least one year in jail, saying that Miner’s “abuse of the public trust is disturbing.”
But Miner told The Examiner he was being blamed for the immigration bureaucracy’s failings.
“I made all those comments about them and that stuff ended up getting back to Congress,” Miner said.
Federal immigration spokespersons could not be reached for comment on the Miner case Thursday evening.
Internal immigration officials began looking at Miner during the investigation of Robert Schofield, the top immigration official in Alexandria, who was ultimately convicted of selling visas and citizenship papers to Asian women for cash and sexual favors.
During a raid of Schofield’s home, authorities found a photo that showed Miner and Schofield together at a party in the Philippines.
Miner said his meeting Schofield in Southeast Asia was a coincidence.
Schofield’s 2006 arrest was a black eye to the immigration service. Not only did federal agents uncover that a high-ranking official was accepting $600,000 in bribes, but investigators discovered that Schofield had faced previous disciplinary problems for his relations with Asian women — including an affair with a prostitute that derailed a federal investigation of a Chinese gangster.
When confronted about that relationship, Schofield fled to East Asia, where he made $36,000 worth of unauthorized purchases on his government-issued credit card, according to court documents. Still, he remained with the agency until his arrest 10 years later.
Got a tip on immigration? Call Bill Myers at 202-459-4956 or send him an e-mail at bmyers@dcexaminer.com.
Comments from Examiner Readers
5:45 AM MST on Fri., Mar. 7, 2008 re: "Immigration services official faces false ID trial"
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Examiner Reader said:
The majority of these comments are so typical of law enforcement thinking they are exempt for the law. What about his romps with the prostitutes and credit card abuse years ago? Many government officials have lost their jobs and pensions for a lot less!
2 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Lock up and throw away the key! He knew what he was doing was illegal and still did nothing to make it right.
3 agree | 3 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Homeland Security is a well intentioned concept, albeit knee deep with former secret service agents, the vast majority are idiots. I have Known Lloyd over 15 years and I know these charges are trumped up just so the idiots can try to save face. That agency is rotten to the core with cronies, former bullet catchers who can't even compose a decent written report.
10 agree | 8 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Sounds like something a door watcher would do.
22 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I work in law enforcement. I have no idea about Mr. Miner's chain of command but I will bet you that they are former Secret Service.
39 agree | 10 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Unfortunatley my friend has now been convicted. This is a travesty of our justice system. After giving 30 years to law enforcment and 10 years to military service, and being months away from retirement they pull this stunt. Our government is in bad shape.
26 agree | 12 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Good question. Did they step over his (illegal immigrant) fiancé to get to him? Maybe he didn’t know that his fiancé is here illegally, but did she know about his high profile position? Ignorance Is Bliss: it is better not to know bad news sometimes, especially if you’re happy.
39 agree | 19 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
What are we now doing with our resources. What was the outcome of this trial?
40 agree | 22 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Okay, how many smugglers, document vendors, and illegal aliens did the government have to step over to get to this guy. Why are we persecuting people involved in relationships that appear to be legitimate. Maybe his crime is disagreeing with the Bush administration. Now that is always a good reason to prosecute government employees.
35 agree | 31 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The friend of Lloyd is absolutely correct. Once again, DHS is proving its dedication to silencing employees who try to do something about the massive incompetence and mismanagement at USCIS. The only surprising thing is that they were able to convince the US Attorney's office to assist them in this witch hunt. Railroading employees who tell the truth is obviously more important than going after the terrorists they continue to allow into the United States.
49 agree | 32 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Llyod is a good friend of mine and his is a bogus, trumped up charge. When Homeland Security could not implicate him in the Schofield bribery case they decided that they had to save face and get him for something. Since he was dating an asian female they decided to use that. Had he not been dating her they would have had to drop all charges and face embarrassment for investigating him for almost a year and finding nothing. HE IS BEING RAILROADED!
51 agree | 31 disagree
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