MIAMI — A 45-year-old Coral Gables woman pleaded guilty to falsely impersonating a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official as part of a scheme to file fraudulent motions seeking the dismissal of immigration court removal proceedings, federal prosecutors announced.
Ana Caridad Linares represented herself in court documents as “Ana Linares, Legal Administrative Specialist, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. She used that fabricated title to submit at least three additional fraudulent motions to Immigration Court, each designed to look like authentic DHS filings seeking dismissal of removal cases against noncitizens. Linares accepted payment from clients for preparing and submitting the filings.
“Ana Caridad Linares pretended to be a DHS official in formal court filings to obtain the unlawful dismissal of removal proceedings,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones. “Her conduct was a fraud on the Immigration Court and an affront to the rule of law.”
Reding Quiñones called the scheme “a brazen effort to corrupt lawful removal proceedings,” adding, “our Office will prosecute those who use fraud to undermine the integrity of our immigration system.”
The fraud unraveled in February 2024, when an Immigration Judge flagged as fraudulent a motion Linares had prepared and caused to be filed on behalf of a noncitizen in removal proceedings. The motion falsely purported to have been submitted by a DHS employee and sought dismissal of the removal case. By falsely claiming to act on behalf of DHS, Linares sought to invoke prosecutorial discretion authority reserved exclusively for department attorneys and employees — attempting to secure the dismissal of proceedings against noncitizens who otherwise remained subject to removal.
Linares pleaded guilty to false impersonation of a federal officer and faces a maximum sentence of three years in federal prison. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. The case is filed under case number 26-cr-20085 in the Southern District of Florida.
Special Agent in Charge José R. Figueroa of Homeland Security Investigations Miami is leading the investigation. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Roca Shaw is prosecuting the case.