U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) assisted a federal investigation that resulted in the conviction and sentencing of Angel Paras Cruz Jr., an 82-year-old businessman from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, for visa fraud. Cruz was sentenced to one year of home detention, three years of probation, ordered to pay a $15,000 fine, a $300 special assessment, and more than $28,000 in restitution to six victims from the Philippines whom he exploited through the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) Visa Program. Between August 2023 and January 2024, Cruz submitted false information to USCIS and the U.S. Department of Labor regarding his employees’ wages, job duties, and working conditions. Instead, he forced the workers to perform unpaid overtime under threats and intimidation, housed them in degrading living conditions, and confiscated their passports. USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate officers worked alongside the Diplomatic Security Service and Homeland Security Investigations for more than a year to support the investigation, demonstrating the agency's commitment to detecting immigration fraud and protecting vulnerable foreign workers.