Sham marriage exposed: NJ woman accused of marrying twice in immigration scam

🔶 Married couple didn’t live together, feds say
🔶 NJ woman lied about previous marriage
🔶 Offense is punishable by prison time, fine

A 27-year-old Newark woman and an Albanian national living in Camden County have been accused of getting married solely to change the young man’s immigration status.

Natasha Flores and Elvis Harizaj, 25, of Cherry Hill, were charged with making false statements to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Harizaj, who first entered the country in 2017 on a student visa, was also charged with marriage fraud.

It is the latest case in New Jersey involving sham marriages to game the immigration system, officials said.

Sham marriage unravels

In October 2021, Flores and Harizaj got married in Elizabeth.

About a year later, Harizaj completed a federal application, seeking lawful permanent residence based on his marriage to Flores.

In the paperwork, Flores stated that she had never been married and that she lived with Harizaj in Maple Shade. Records from T-Mobile and TD Bank, as well as a lease, listed their joint address in that Camden County town.

Harizaj mailed the application, forms, and documents to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services with a return address in Maple Shade, sent from a post office in Cherry Hill.

Married NJ couple didn’t live together, feds say

Officials, however, said Flores’ landlord in Newark told them that she had been living on a lease there since 2019.

Flores had also been married before — to a Brazilian national who obtained U.S. citizenship based on his marriage to her, U.S. Attorney Alina Habba said.

Convictions of making a false statement or marriage fraud are each punishable by a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a term of three years of supervised release.

'Ashamed' immigrant admits NJ marriage was fake, feds say

In August 2023, Harizaj and Flores were interviewed separately at the USCIS Mount Laurel Field Office.

Their answers did not always line up, including when they moved in together, the story of their marriage proposal and whether Flores had any student loans.

In January 2024, Harizaj was interviewed again by an immigration officer, during which Harizaj agreed to withdraw his application for permanent residency.

Law enforcement officers interviewed Harizaj yet again in April.

He admitted that he was introduced to Flores to get married and secure permanent residence in the country.

Harizaj also admitted that they did not live together in Maple Shade and that he was "ashamed” of submitting the residency application, according to federal prosecutors.

Read More: Understanding the role of New Jersey's Election Integrity Task Force

NJ, NY women indicted for marriage fraud ring

In late April, a different New Jersey woman was indicted on federal charges in a separate investigation involving marriage fraud.

Shawnta Hopper, 33, of Sicklerville, and three women from New York City — Ella Zuran, Tatiana Sigal and Alexandra Tkach — were all indicted on conspiracy to commit visa and marriage fraud charges.

Hopper allegedly encouraged several U.S. citizens to take part in fraudulent marriages with foreign nationals for financial gain.

She also allegedly was paid to recruit women in Baltimore, Maryland, and other locations to enter into sham marriages, federal authorities said.

“Marriage fraud is not a victimless crime — it compromises the integrity of our immigration system, diverts critical resources, and erodes public trust in a process that countless individuals follow legally and in good faith,” Special Agent in Charge Michael McCarthy, of the Homeland Security Investigations Baltimore Office, said in a written statement.

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