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Investigator sought to prepare for immigration fraud trial
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Posted on Mar 07 2012
Court-appointed counsel Colin M. Thompson has asked the federal court to allow him to hire a private investigator that will help him prepare for the trial of a client who is facing an immigration fraud case.
In his declaration filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the NMI, Thompson said that an investigator is necessary so he could provide effective assistance to his client, Li Wen Tang, who was charged with immigration document fraud on Sept. 22, 2011.
He said the U.S. government has identified several fact witnesses, but that these witnesses are adverse to Tang’s defense. Thompson said he needs to interview the witnesses in order to adequately prepare for trial. He said there may be other evidence that an investigator could develop.
Tang, Thompson said, would pay for an investigator if she were not indigent.
According to the indictment, Tang lied in her application for permanent residence or status adjustment when she stated in papers submitted to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that her only child was a daughter born in 2006, when in fact she gave birth in April 2002 on Saipan to a son whose biological father was listed on the child’s 2002 birth certificate as Abdullah al Mamun.
