Uzbek national sentenced for immigration, passport fraud conspiracy
ORLANDO, Fla. — Enforcement and Removal Operations Miami supported an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation into an Uzbekistan national for her role in a long-running immigration conspiracy, false statement in application and use of passport and procurement of citizenship or naturalization unlawfully.
Dilrabo Obidova, 36, was sentenced to a time-served sentence reflecting the time Obidova was detained pending trial and ordered immediate deportation to Uzbekistan with no option to apply for asylum or any other immigration relief. Obidova entered a guilty plea in May 2024. Obidova’s husband, Abduvosit Razikov, was charged in the same indictment, but remains at-large. Obidova was successfully removed Aug. 30, 2024.
According to court documents, Razikov and Obidova conspired since at least 2007 to bring Obidova to the United States from Uzbekistan and fraudulently obtained immigration benefits for her. To this end, Obidova entered into a sham marriage with a U.S. citizen even though she was already married to Razikov. To perpetuate the myth that she was legitimately married to a U.S. citizen, Obidova moved in with her sham husband, filed joint tax returns with him, staged photos and even listed her sham husband on her and Razikov’s children’s birth certificates. Obidova, with Razikov’s assistance, also filed several immigration and passport applications, each time making false statements or concealing information about her sham marriage and her marriage to Razikov.
After obtaining lawful permanent resident status, Obidova attempted to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. In her application for naturalization, Obidova made numerous false statements, under penalty of perjury, relating to her background, marriages and past attempts to illegally obtain immigration benefits and status. Law enforcement officers took Obidova into custody when she traveled to Orlando for her final naturalization interview.
The FBI’s JTTF investigated this case with valuable assistance from the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Miami and Office of the Principal Legal Advisor and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. U.S. Attorneys Kara M. Wick and Richard Varadan prosecuted the case.
Members of the public who have information about criminal noncitizens, foreign fugitives or other immigration violators should contact ICE by calling the ICE Tip Line at 866-347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also file a tip online by completing ICE’s online tip form.
For more news and information on how the ERO Miami field office carries out its immigration enforcement mission in Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin Islands follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @EROMiami.
As one of ICE’s three operational directorates, ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement. ERO’s mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws, and its primary areas of focus are interior enforcement operations, management of the agency’s detained and non-detained populations, and repatriation of noncitizens who have received final orders of removal. ERO’s workforce consists of more than 7,700 law enforcement and non-law enforcement support personnel across 25 domestic field offices and 208 locations nationwide, 30 overseas postings, and multiple temporary duty travel assignments along the border.
Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.gov)
