Louisiana Police Chiefs Accused of Fabricating Robberies in Immigrant Visa Scheme

The police reports, signed by law enforcement officials in otherwise quiet and small Central Louisiana towns, described a rash of armed robberies. The crimes had targeted people with no ties to the region, all of them immigrants struggling to find a toehold in the country.

But according to federal investigators, the reports were full of lies. “In fact, the armed robberies never took place,” Alexander C. Van Hook, the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, told reporters on Wednesday.

Mr. Van Hook and other federal officials said that they had exposed a scheme to exploit a program that offers undocumented immigrants who are victims of crime a path to temporary legal residency and citizenship.

A federal grand jury has indicted current and former police chiefs in three communities, another local law enforcement official and a Louisiana businessman whom prosecutors described as the architect of the scheme.

Prosecutors said that the chiefs would produce false reports documenting armed robberies. Listed as victims were undocumented immigrants, who the prosecutors said had paid a middle man.

They were trying to take advantage of the federal U-visa program, which was created in 2000 and is available to undocumented immigrants who are victims of certain violent crimes. To qualify, applicants have to cooperate with law enforcement officials by helping with investigations and serving as witnesses.