Hundreds of illegal immigrants have fake driver's licenses from two Bakersfield DMV locations.
And, two men are behind bars, charged in the driver's license scam.
DMV officials in Sacramento say this scheme speaks volumes about the threat to homeland security. But, in this case authorities are confident they have caught the two people responsible.
Investigators are calling it an elaborate scheme to help illegal immigrants from Korea and China get California driver's licenses.
One of two suspects in jail accused of carrying out the scam is Chong Huang Kim. He and Dae Wahn Ahn are accused of forging documents to help illegal Asian immigrants stay in this country.
Authorities say Kim and Ahn provided fake Canadian passports and legitimate social security numbers to help undocumented Asian immigrants obtain California driver's licenses.
"The investigation itself lasted a while and it was detected last year that this was being done," said Armando Botello, DMV Spokesperson.
Federal investigators say Kim and Ahn had more than 200 immigrants pay between $3,500 to $5,000, and they collected close to $1 million.
In exchange, the undocumented immigrants received California driver's licenses from two Bakersfield DMV offices.
DMV officials says a local manager noticed the seals in the passports were fake and reported the fraud. It prompted an investigation ending in the arrests of Kim and Ahn, both illegal immigrants who outstayed their visas.
"Our investigators, our DMV employees at the office, they have received training and they are trained in how to detect fraudulent documents," said Botello.
Kim and Ahn are scheduled to be arraigned in downtown Bakersfield on Friday.
They face multiple felony counts including forgery, perjury, and manufacturing false citizen documents.
