Teacher and population officer sentenced for illegally bringing people to the US

(Baonghean.vn) - Asked to find a way to send people abroad, Le and Thuy organized to send 2 former students to the US to work illegally to receive 20 million VND in commission.

The provincial People's Court has just sentenced Tran Thi Le (born in 1981), former population officer of Son Hai commune, Quynh Luu and Nguyen Thi Thuy (born in 1983), residing in Nghi Duc commune, a teacher at a foreign language center in Vinh city, to a total of 33 months in prison, suspended, for the crime of "Organizing others to flee abroad".

The two suspects Le and Thuy at the trial. Photo: Nhu Binh

In early May 2016, Tran Thi Le received a call from Le Quang Trung (currently living in the US) asking him to find workers to send to Samoa (USA) to work. Workers who want to go must pay 12,000 USD, and upon arrival will be granted a green card, with a salary of 1,000 USD/month. Trung will pay Le 500 USD/1 worker.

Le contacted Thuy to find someone to take him. Thuy introduced the “opportunity to go to America” to two former students, Truong Van Tan (from Yen Thanh) and Nguyen Minh Duc (from Dien Chau). Tan and Duc agreed to pay to go to America.

From May to June 2016, Thuy and Le collected 24,000 USD from these two workers and sent it to Trung. The two received 20 million VND in commission as agreed.

On June 10, 2016, Thuy took Truong Van Tan and Nguyen Minh Duc to Noi Bai airport, flew to the Republic of Fiji and then to the US on tourist passports. In Samoa, Trung introduced these two workers to work at a Chinese farm for $10/day. Due to low wages and working conditions not as previously agreed, Tan and Duc returned to Vietnam and denounced Thuy and Le's actions.

At the trial, Tran Thi Le and Nguyen Thi Thuy admitted to the crimes as stated in the indictment. Both defendants were not licensed by the competent authority to operate in the field of labor export.

Considering that the two defendants confessed honestly, repented, and while awaiting trial, actively reimbursed part of the money collected from the two workers.

At the trial, Mr. Duc and Mr. Tan's legal representative asked for a reduction in the sentence for the two defendants; distinguishing the roles and positions of each person, the panel sentenced Tran Thi Le to 18 months in prison, suspended for 36 months; Nguyen Thi Thuy to 15 months in prison, suspended for 30 months.

In civil matters, the transaction between the two parties is invalid, therefore this is an illegal transaction and the court will not consider it.

Nhu Binh