Previously deported Brazilian national residing in Massachusetts sentenced for selling fraudulent Social Security and Green Cards

BOSTON – A Brazilian national unlawfully residing in Massachusetts was sentenced in federal court in Boston for unlawfully reentering the United States after deportation as well as selling fraudulent Social Security cards and Legal Permanent Resident cards, often referred to as “Green Cards.”

According to the Massachusetts Department of Justice, Liene Tavares DeBarros, Jr., 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to five months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, with deportation pending upon completion of his sentence. In May 2025, Tavares DeBarros pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful transfer of a document or authentication feature and one count of unlawful reentry of a deported alien. He was arrested and charged via criminal complaint in March 2025.

Tavares DeBarros had been deported from the United States in July 2010 but unlawfully reentered the country at a later date.

In mid-2024, authorities learned that Tavares DeBarros was selling counterfeit identity documents. As part of an undercover investigation, law enforcement engaged him, leading to his sale of a counterfeit Social Security Number Card and Green Card to an officer for $250 in October 2024. In December 2024, he sold two additional counterfeit Social Security cards and two Green Cards to another undercover officer for $500. Before his arrest, he also agreed to sell three more sets of fake identification documents. A search of his residence uncovered three Social Security cards and a set of fraudulent documents bearing his own name.

The announcement was made by U.S. 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’s Office of Inspector General, Boston Field Division; Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, Northeast Region; and Patricia H. Hyde, Field Office Director, Boston, for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Reynolds III of the Criminal Division.

The investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations’ Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force, a specialized unit comprising experts from state, local, and federal agencies focused on detecting, deterring, and disrupting document, identity, and benefit fraud schemes.