BOSTON – A Brazilian national residing in Woburn, Mass. pleaded guilty on May 8, 2025 in federal court in Boston to unlawfully reentering the United States after deportation as well as to selling fraudulent Social Security cards and Legal Permanent Resident cards, often referred to as “Green Cards.”
Liene Tavares DeBarros, Jr., 40, pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful transfer of a document or authentication feature and one count of unlawful reentry of a deported alien. U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for June 26, 2025. Tavares DeBarros was arrested and charged by criminal complaint in March 2025.
Tavares DeBarros was previously deported from the United States in July 2010. Sometime after his removal, Tavares DeBarros unlawfully reentered the United States.
In mid-2024, law enforcement was notified that Tavares DeBarros was selling counterfeit identity documents. As part of the investigation, law enforcement contacted the defendant in an undercover capacity requesting his services. Subsequently, in October 2024, Tavares DeBarros sold a counterfeit Social Security Number Card and a Green Card to an undercover officer in exchange for $250. Later, in December 2024, Tavares DeBarros sold two more counterfeit Social Security cards and two Green Cards to another undercover officer in exchange for $500.
The charge of unlawful transfer of document or authentication feature and unlawful production of document or authentication feature provides for a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of unlawful reentry provides for a sentence of up to two years, one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The defendant is subject to deportation upon completion of any sentence imposed. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; Amy Connelly, Special Agent in Charge of the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Boston Field Division; Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Labor Racketeering and Fraud, Northeast Region; and Patricia H. Hyde, Field Office Director, Boston, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Reynolds III of the Criminal Division is prosecuting the case.
The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigation’s Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force, a specialized investigative group comprising personnel from various state, local, and federal agencies with expertise in detecting, deterring, and disrupting organizations and individuals involved in various types of document, identity and benefit fraud schemes.
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