Clifton Divers, a former agent with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was handed a three-year prison sentence on Monday for operating a bribery scheme for immigrants trying to avoid deportation from the US. In January, Divers pleaded guilty to fraud and bribery charges.
At the sentencing, the US Attorney, Matthew Schneider said that nobody is above the law, especially law enforcement officers who were supposed to maintain high standards of integrity, professionalism, and honesty. Divers confessed to having conspired with Charles Busse, a Birmingham attorney, to get deportation deferrals, as well as other benefits for the lawyer’s immigrant clients between 2013 and 2015. The Detroit Free Press says that Busse is already serving a three-year prison sentence for his involvement with the scheme.
In return for hefty bribes, Busse created information demonstrating that immigrants from Albania, Iraq, and Mexico were working for federal agencies as undercover informants, thus making them eligible for a deportation deferment scheme. The deferment would materialize via Divers making use of his security clearance. In a filing on Friday, prosecutors claimed that Divers was crucial to the success of Busse’s scheme.
Prosecutors also emphasized the vulnerability of the immigrants from whom the two men received bribes, and that Busse earned around $990,000 in illegal bribes during the years that they operated the scheme, in which time at least four immigrants were protected from deportation, according to the Detroit Free Press.