AP News, October 4th, 2007
An immigration official indicted on bribery and fraud charges is accused of taking money and gifts in exchange for freeing numerous illegal immigrants, including one who later killed a college student, federal officials said Wednesday.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement official also is accused of conspiring with the fugitive owner of a restaurant chain to help immigrants gain U.S. residency through fraudulent marriages to Americans.
Roy M. Bailey, 54, was acting director for detention and removal operations in the border agency's Detroit field office. He has been on leave since 2004 because of the investigation.
A federal grand jury issued a sealed indictment in June against Bailey and four others. He is charged with taking bribes, concealing a felony, and conspiracy to commit bribery, extortion and fraud.
The most serious of the charges, taking bribes and conspiracy to commit extortion, have a penalty of up to 15 years imprisonment.
Bailey was a 20-year employee of what once was the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization Services, now part of the Department of Homeland Security.
"Acts of corruption in the department ... represent a threat to our nation and undermine the legitimacy of the immigration process," Thomas M. Frost, head of Homeland Security's inspector general office, said in a statement released Wednesday.
Bailey's lawyer said his client "has dedicated his life to public service and upholding the law. He is completely innocent of these charges and will fight to restore his stellar reputation."
Bailey remained free Wednesday and was expected to be arraigned next week.
According to the indictment, Bailey took $2,000 from a private immigration lawyer in 2001 and 2003. Bailey authorized the release of one of the lawyer's clients, Bashar J. Faraj, who was awaiting deportation, prosecutors allege.
Faraj, 31, was convicted last year of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The indictment also accuses Bailey of allowing another federal agent to steal $300,000 from detained illegal immigrants.
The federal grand jury that indicted Bailey also charged La Shish restaurant chain owner Talal Chahine, 52, who is believed to have fled to Lebanon in 2005 to avoid federal tax charges.
