R 242254Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0755
NVC PORTSMOUTH
INFO WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS  SAN SALVADOR 000169 
 
 
DEPT FOR CA/FPP; POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO KCC WILLIAMSBURG KY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC ES
SUBJECT: EL SALVADOR FRAUD SEMI-ANNUAL SUMMARY FY09 
 
REF: 05 STATE 205073 
 
(U) In response to reftel, post is updating its Fraud Summary 
information for the six-month period from September 2008 to March of 
FY 2009. 
 
--Country Conditions 
 
a. (U) The presidential election campaign in El Salvador is drawing 
to a close.  The presidential election will be held on March 15 and 
currently there is no clear front runner.    Elections of municipal 
and national legislative representatives took place in January.  The 
results were mixed with the (left-wing) FMLN gaining seats in the 
Legislative Assembly and winning a number of mayoral posts, while 
(conservative) ARENA won back the San Salvador mayor position from 
the FMLN.  It is impossible to predict the outcome of the March 15 
vote. 
 
(U) The economic conditions in El Salvador continue to be a source 
of concern.  Between January 2008 and January 2009 the monthly cost 
of the basic basket for a family of 3.81 members in urban areas 
increased by 11% from $155.59 to $172.7.  Between January 2008 and 
January 2009 the monthly cost of the basic basket for a family of 
3.81 members in rural areas increased by 5.7% from $100.7 to 
$106.46.  The minimum wage in urban areas does cover the cost of the 
basic basket but in rural areas it does not cover the cost of the 
basket. The government raised the minimum wages twice last year. 
 
(U)  Post considers the level of fraud to be medium. Fraud appears 
to be generally case-specific rather than systematic.  While many 
cases may not be well planned or executed, some do have a degree of 
complexity and documentation that are quite sophisticated. 
 
--NIV Fraud 
 
b. (U) In the last six months, the Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU) 
received forty-four new NIV-related fraud investigation requests, 
and processed forty-two of the cases. Two cases are still pending. 
Sixteen of the processed cases indicated fraud.  Average processing 
time was 10 days.  The majority of cases were from people applying 
for B1/B2 visas, and many involved applicants who failed to disclose 
a prior arrest, either in the US (generally connected to an 
immigration violation), or in El Salvador (for a variety of 
violations). 
 
(U) In the past six months, FPU conducted two more validation 
studies to compliment the four that we have already completed. In 
these two studies, FPU selected a random sample of cases of children 
and of teachers to get a better idea of the visa bearers' travel 
patterns.  The studies confirmed that we are on track with our 
adjudication methodology but did highlight that issuing in cases of 
children should be done with extra caution.  Our validation study 
highlighted several cases where the parents presented valid visas 
and good travel and, once their children were issued visas, moved to 
the US as a family.  FPU worked with the Department to provisionally 
revoke visas in such cases but this is an area of continued concern. 
 Additionally, by the end of March, FPU expects to have completed a 
study of small, informal business owners such as bus owners who run 
cash based businesses.  These cases are typically difficult for NIV 
officers to adjudicate because invariably the applicants do not have 
documentation for their income.  Also, the types of work 
characteristic to this category of applicants are not familiar to 
American Officers.  Finally, a study on B Referrals was undertaken 
to see how our Referral Program is being implemented and what, if 
any, steps we should take to improve it. 
 
--IV Fraud 
 
c. (U) During the reporting period, FPU received one- 
hundred-and-eight new investigation requests.  FPU processed 
eighty-three of these cases; twenty-eight indicated fraud, and 
fifty-five had no fraud indicated.  The remaining twenty-five are 
pending.  Average processing time for IV fraud cases was seventeen 
days.  The majority of cases referred were IR-1/K-1 and required a 
dual interview with the petitioner and the beneficiary to determine 
the authenticity of the relationship, or IR-2 step-parent petitions 
where it was unclear that the biological parent and the petitioner 
had a genuine relationship (and therefore unclear that the 
beneficiary maintained a true step-parent/step-child relationship). 
 
(U) FPU also worked with the IV Unit to develop a gang tattoo 
worksheet that investigators now use each time we have an applicant 
who is a suspected gang member.  The tattoo worksheet follows 
training provided to the IV Unit and FPU by the Salvadoran Anti-gang 
task force.  Both the training and worksheet have assisted the IV 
Unit in preparing stronger advisory opinion requests to the 
Department for possible gang ineligibility findings.  However, Post 
continues to grapple with the issue of how best to detect gang 
members, especially now that they tend to be moving away from using 
tattoos as an identifier. 
 
--DV Fraud 
 
d. (U) El Salvador is not a Diversity Visa Lottery Program country. 
 
--ACS and U.S. Passport Fraud 
 
e. (U) FPU received eleven cases and processed ten fraud 
investigation requests for ACS cases in the last six months.  No 
case indicated fraud. In the majority of the cases, FPU conducted 
field investigations to confirm the identity and citizenship claim 
of U.S. passport applicants who were born in the U.S. and came to El 
Salvador as infants. 
 
 
--Adoption Fraud 
 
f. (U) FPU has not dealt with many cases of adoption fraud.  There 
are about 250 open adoption cases at Post and we issued only 3 visas 
in the past six months.  The nature of Salvadoran adoption law is 
complex and the time required for foreigners to adopt Salvadoran 
children is long.  We have not seen any cases of this type of fraud 
in the past six months. 
 
--Use of DNA Testing 
 
g. (U) DNA testing is used in IV and ACS cases when the biological 
relationship is in question.  This is usually indicated by late 
registration of a birth certificate, but other factors include the 
age of the mother at birth, or the lack of presence of the father at 
the time of conception. Subjects who are requested to have a DNA 
exam in order to prove a blood relationship in an American Citizens 
Services or an Immigrant Visa case are not/not referred to fraud. 
 
(U)  Three local laboratories handle all DNA requests, and to date 
we have had no fraud related issues with them. 
 
--Asylum and other DHS benefit fraud 
 
h. (U) DHS's USCIS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 
have offices in El Salvador.  The Consular Section does not process 
Visa 92/93 cases. 
 
--Alien Smuggling, Trafficking, Organized Crime, Terrorist Travel 
 
i. (U) Because of the historic migration patterns between El 
Salvador and the US, alien smuggling continues to be of concern to 
Post.  In cases uncovered by FPU, the typical case involves family 
members smuggling children to parents who are residing illegally in 
the US.  Occasionally, alien smuggling cases reported in the 
Salvadoran news media turn out to be actually cases of trafficking 
in persons. 
 
(U) FPU San Salvador has noticed an increase in the number of cases 
referred by contacts that involve third country nationals transiting 
El Salvador with fake documents.  Of particular interest is the 
number of nationals from China (PRC).  The detected Chinese have 
presented documents from different countries in Asia and are 
traveling either to Canada or the US.  While the number of cases of 
trafficking has been most significant for Chinese nationals, we have 
also seen cases from places as varied as Somalia, Nigeria and Peru. 
It is worth noting that Salvadoran Migration officials are extremely 
helpful in sharing information about fraud cases with the Embassy. 
 
(U) Post continues to find documented gang members ineligible under 
3(A)2 with the Department's concurrence.  The IV Unit and FPU 
documented and refused ten applicants during the last six months. 
There are two Advisory Opinion requests for gang member 
ineligibilities currently pending with the Department and one was 
denied. 
 
 
--DS Criminal Fraud Investigations 
 
j. (U) FPU works closely with Post's RSO. The designated ARSO/I is 
expected to arrive at Post in mid FY2009, and will have an office in 
FPU. 
 
(U)  A representative example of our cooperation is the possible 
passport fraud case described in section (e). 
 
(U)  FPU also works with other agencies as appropriate.  For 
DHS/ICE, we had a high-profile NIV applicant who was applying for a 
visa after having lived in the US for over 14 years under somewhat 
dubious status.  Working with our colleagues at DHS we were able to 
determine that the applicant had in fact been out of status for over 
a year and we found him ineligible for a visa. 
 
--Host Country Passport, Identity Documents, and Civil Registry 
 
k. (U) El Salvador began issuing the new D-series passport in 2007. 
It includes a number of significant design changes and security 
upgrades to interior pages.  A sample was sent to CA/FPP. 
 
(U) The national identity card (the DUI) is required by law to be 
issued to all citizens over 18, and is also required to be updated 
when significant life events occur that will effect information on 
the card (marriage, change of job, moving to a new address).  By 
law, all address changes to an individual's DUI were stopped on 
March 1, 2008 in preparation for the 2009 elections. 
 
--Cooperation with Host Government Authorities 
 
l. (U) FPU continues to work closely with officials of the 
Government of El Salvador.  FPU regularly answers requests for 
information on whether Salvadorans hold U.S. visas, and will 
prudentially revoke the visa of anyone charged with a crime in El 
Salvador if the person is considered a flight risk. 
 
--Areas of Particular Concern 
 
m. (SBU) Post remains concerned about marriage-related fraud in IV, 
and will continue to look closely at cases with fraud indicators. 
 
(SBU) The prevalence of gang violence and strong associations of 
these gang members with the US continued.  FPU San Salvador is 
especially concerned about detection of IV applicants who may be 
gang members, as tattoos are the best method for detecting them. 
Gang members are more aware of how risky this behavior is and are 
starting to eschew tattoos or put them in places where they cannot 
be detected. 
 
(SBU) El Salvador continues to be a transit point for drug 
trafficking to the US.  In the past week, the Salvadoran Police 
intercepted over 1200 kilograms of cocaine in a raid off the coast 
of El Salvador.  The frequency and size of these seizures show the 
magnitude of the problem.  Salvadoran authorities are still 
searching for fugitive drug kingpin Reynerio de Jesus Flores Lazo, 
leader of the infamous Salvadoran drug and human smuggling cartel, 
"Los Perrones". In the last six months, FPU has revoked four visas 
of criminals tied to Los Perrones. 
 
(SBU) Due to El Salvador's proximity to the US, the number of fake 
documents and individuals being smuggled to the US continues to be a 
problem.  Over the past six months the increase in the number of 
Chinese nationals transiting through El Salvador is especially 
worrying. 
 
--Staffing and Training 
 
n. (U) Post's FPU is staffed with two FPU Assistants, an FSN Fraud 
Supervisor, and a Fraud Prevention Manager. 
 
(U) FPU eagerly awaits the staffing of Post's ARSO/I position. The 
position has been funded and posted, and we hope to have it filled 
by mid-2009. 
 
(U) During the period, FPU provided training on detection of 
fraudulent visas and US passports to 20 airline employees from TACA 
and local migration authorities at the Comalapa International 
Airport. 
 
(U) FPU has created an -NIV Fraud Essentials-, file on the public 
hard drive featuring the -Fraud Basics for El Salvador-.  FPU 
completed six short validation studies during the period, and the 
findings of these studies are one of the key ingredients of the 
archive.  Additionally, a tattoo training document was created for 
new officers to get a better understanding of things to look for 
when reviewing medical exams. 
 
Blau