An illegal immigrant from Guatemala who was previously deported on four occasions will spend months in jail for selling fake Social Security and Permanent Resident cards in Michigan.
Norma Ayala, 35, was sentenced to eight months in jail after pleading guilty to conspiracy to transfer false U.S. Social Security cards and Permanent Resident cards to illegal immigrants in the Grand Rapids area, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan announced Monday.
The sentence stems from a 2024 investigation by the Michigan Homeland Security Task Force established through an executive order from President Donald Trump.
The case involved Ayala working with two codefendants – Rigoberto Vasquez-Vasquez and Edgidio Vasques-Mencho – to advertise, manufacture, and sell the fraudulent cards on “a number of occasions in 2024 and 2025,” according to U.S. Attorney Timothy VerHey.
“Ms. Ayala’s role in the conspiracy was to take orders, obtain biographical data and photographs to be used in the manufacture of the documents, pass the orders and materials to a co-conspirator, deliver the finished documents, and collect payments,” the announcement read.
All three defendants were indicted by a grand jury in September, and later pleaded guilty.
It is unclear when Ayala was sentenced. Her co-conspirators are set to be sentenced at a later date. A Sept. 30 announcement detailing charges against the three noted Vasquez-Mencho was also charged with illegal reentry, having been previously removed on one occasion.
That announcement cited an indictment that documented seven instances involving sales of fake documents to confidential sources that were observed by HIS agents.
Ayala will be deported once her sentence is complete, officials said.
“This case is an example of why the public has lost its tolerance for illegal immigration,” VerHey said in a statement. “Ms. Ayala has been removed from the United States four times, which shows her disregard for our laws.
“When she came back, for the fifth time, she celebrated her good fortune by starting a fraud ring to enrich herself and to allow others to evade our immigration laws,” he said. “This conduct is unacceptable, and my office will aggressively prosecute it whenever it occurs.”
The case is among many in Michigan involving criminal illegal immigrants arrested during the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, initiated as promised by President Donald Trump on the first day of his second term.
Other recent cases include an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who faces charges of resisting arrest after grabbing a federal agents gun during a scuffle at Sam’s Club in the Metro Detroit area last week.
Prosecutors allege Arnoldo Jose Marquez-Pulido, 33, grabbed an agent’s gun and assaulted two investigators following a car chase and attempt to flee on foot. Marquez-Pulido, who entered the U.S. illegally in April 2024 and was paroled into the country under the Biden administration, now faces up to 20 years in prison for charges of assaulting an officer, illegal immigrant in possession of a firearm, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.
That announcement followed just a week after the Kent County Sheriff’s Office detailed its monthslong investigation that led to the arrest of illegal immigrant Yasser Pacheco, 44.
Pacheco faces up to two decades in prison after he was arrested for stealing and reselling diesel fuel around metro Grand Rapids, a scheme that allegedly involved credit card skimmers, and pickups fitted with auxiliary tanks Pacheco and others used to fuel up and deliver diesel to clients at parking lots and truck stops at a steep discount.
In February, another investigation from the Kent County Sheriff’s Department led to the arrest of at least 10 illegal immigrants across multiple states tied to a South American Theft Group that targeted West Michigan business owners in 2024.
Alleged thieves now in federal custody in Grand Rapids include Paul Jeferson Mendoza-Arevalo, 40; Wendey Vanessa Acosta-Arevalo, 28; William David Villarraga-Joya, 33; Ivan Chaparro-Perez, 32; Iesua German Ramirez-Perez, 26; and John Quinterro-Herrera, 29.
