❓WHAT HAPPENED: A Guatemalan national, Edgidio Vasquez-Mencho, was sentenced for his role in a counterfeit document-selling scheme in Michigan.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Vasquez-Mencho, two other Guatemalan nationals, and the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The case originated in September 2025 in Grand Rapids, Michigan; sentencing occurred in March 2026.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Vasquez-Mencho deserved to be prosecuted and punished. It is bad enough that he has repeatedly violated our immigration laws by crossing the border without permission. Worse than that, once he got here, he operated an illegal document business that enabled others like him to obtain employment illegally and claim taxpayer-supported public services. This conduct must stop.” – U.S. Attorney Timothy VerHey
🎯IMPACT: Vasquez-Mencho will serve six months in federal prison before being deported to Guatemala for the third time.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan reported the sentencing of 41-year-old Guatemalan illegal Edgidio Vasquez-Mencho. He was convicted of participating in an operation that sold counterfeit Social Security cards and permanent resident alien cards to other illegal immigrants in the Grand Rapids area.
Vasquez-Mencho received a six-month federal prison term. He is the second of three Guatemalan nationals charged in the scheme, which supplied fake documents so that illegals could secure jobs and obtain public services reserved for lawful residents. His specific responsibilities involved handing over the counterfeit items and collecting the payments from buyers.
U.S. Attorney Timothy VerHey stated, “Vasquez-Mencho deserved to be prosecuted and punished. It is bad enough that he has repeatedly violated our immigration laws by crossing the border without permission. Worse than that, once he got here, he operated an illegal document business that enabled others like him to obtain employment illegally and claim taxpayer-supported public services. This conduct must stop.”
This was Vasquez-Mencho’s third time being caught unlawfully present in the United States. After the first incident, he was permitted to leave voluntarily. After the second, he was formally removed to Guatemala. Once he finishes serving his current sentence, he will be deported yet again.
The investigation began with a grand-jury indictment in Grand Rapids in September 2025 that named Vasquez-Mencho, Norma Yanari Ayala, and Rigoberto Vasquez-Vasquez. The three were accused of conspiring to produce and sell fake permanent resident cards and Social Security cards. On March 16, U.S. Attorney VerHey also announced the sentencing of Ayala—who had previously been deported four times—to eight months in federal prison for her part in the same scheme.
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