Ghanaian Immigration Officer Arrested In US

A Ghanaian federal immigration official Samuel Nyanteng is behind bars in the US for illegally bringing a Ghanaian into America, StarrFMOnline.com understands. The 33-year-old Ghanaian was arrested on Wednesday by federal and state authorities at his Hillside home.

The arrest was made by detectives with the prosecutor's office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He is in police grips on charges of submitting fraudulent documents and making false statements in order to illegally bring another person into the United States from the West African nation. He has been charged with perjury, false swearing and conspiracy.

Nyanteng, who is a naturalised American but born in Ghana, was taken into custody when detectives executed a search warrant at his Leslie Street home, according to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.

Bail has been set at $30,000 with a 10 percent option, and he is expected to make his first court appearance later this week, according to the NJ.com.

Nyanteng has been working for the last three years in the Newark office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency within the Homeland Security department, prosecutors said.

As an “immigration services assistant,” Nyanteng performed administrative support duties, said USCIS spokeswoman Anita Moore.

He has been placed on administrative leave, Moore said.

At the time of his arrest, Nyanteng was in line for a promotion, prosecutors said.

Before working for Homeland Security, Nyanteng worked for the U.S. Department of Defense, prosecutors said. Prosecutors allege that Nyanteng submitted fraudulent documents and knowingly made false statements to immigration authorities in order to bring another person into the United States from Ghana.

Authorities did not identify the other person.

Source: Ghana/StarrFMOnline.com