Federal prosecutors in Iowa have praised the Irish consulate in Chicago for uncovering a scheme which allowed hundreds of Africans to illegally obtain work visas for Ireland and other European countries.
The visa ring was discovered by the Irish consulate after Guinean man Abdulaziz Bah (38) obtained Irish visas through the Irish Embassy in Washington and the Irish consulate in Boston.
Bah was jailed for 10 years last week for changing names and photographs on US identity documents and using the documents to apply for work visas in Ireland and other European countries, making more than $325,000 (€270,000) from the operation.
Investigators from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Ireland was "one of the most heavily targeted countries" in the scheme.
During a raid on Bah's Maryland apartment, police found shipping documents which showed Bah had used false addresses to apply for Irish visas through Washington and Boston as well as dozens of unfinished visa applications for European countries.
The US attorney for the northern district of Iowa, Charles W Larson snr, praised Eoin Lawlor, the former vice consul of the Chicago consulate, for alerting US authorities to suspicious visa applications.
The scheme was later tracked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Postal Inspection Service. A co-accused was jailed last March.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said uncovering the fraud ring has "plugged a significant hole in international security".
Bah's 10-year sentence was almost double the 63-month sentencing guideline maximum. He was convicted last February on two counts of possessing fraudulent documents and one of conspiracy to defraud the US government.
The conspiracy count included wire fraud, mail fraud and manufacturing and transferring various fraudulent documents. Bah is also required to forfeit the $325,000 he made from the scheme.
US district court judge Linda Reade said the operation "placed the citizens of the United States, as well as the citizens of the European Union, at risk".
The scheme involved creating identities for clients so that they appeared to be US green card holders, making it easier to apply for European visas.
Bah and his co-accused obtained "high-quality" counterfeit passports from African countries including Guinea, Sierra Leone and Senegal. The false identity documents seized showed that the impostors were "primarily males from various African countries between 16 and 45 years old".
There was no comment from the Irish Embassy in Washington.