Concord Woman Gets Prison Time For Fabricating Dozens Of Asylum Applications

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) — Federal officials say a Concord woman who submitted fraudulent asylum applications has been sentenced to six months in prison.

The Oakland Tribune reports 30-year-old Buyantod Thomas was sentenced Thursday. She will begin serving her six-month sentence in September.

According to the Department of Justice, Thomas helped file at least 25 fraudulent asylum applications. Asylum applications are submitted to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in incidences where being removed from the country would be illegal. In order to qualify, applications must prove that being forced to leave the U.S. would put applicants at risk based on things such as their race, religion, nationality, or political opinion.

Thomas admitted that she made up stories and used false documents to help Mongolian nationals apply for asylum.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.