1-day sentence irks federal judge in immigration case

But plea agreement in immigration case is honored.

Asif Khan was in federal court because he tried to sneak his brother-in-law into the country from Pakistan to help run his gas station.

Innocent enough, according to a deal that called for Khan to plead guilty to mail fraud in exchange for one day — day, not year — in federal custody.

The look on U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson’s face Tuesday hinted that he wasn’t pleased.

“You can understand why people might be concerned about this kind of activity,” he told Khan, 40, at his sentencing hearing. “I don’t think a one-day sentence is just punishment for the seriousness of this offense.”

Khan, a native of Pakistan, had promised to pay a woman to file immigration documents to allow his brother-in-law into the country so he could marry her and stay in the United States.

“Had it been my case, I never would have accepted” the plea agreement, Watson said. Like most federal judges, he didn’t elaborate outside the courtroom.

But a law-enforcement official who didn’t want his name used said that a light sentence for lying to get someone into the country is a bad idea when Americans fear jihadists infiltrating the United States.

In the courtroom, Watson told Khan he was bothered that his scheme was “well thought out.”

According to the charge against him, Khan arranged for the woman to talk with his brother-in-law via Skype, then met her in June 2015 at his gas station in Cambridge in Guernsey County to work out details. At some point, the woman told authorities and their conversations were recorded.

Khan told her that after the marriage, his brother-in-law would pay the couple’s bills, even “if he don’t want to live with you or you don’t want to keep him with you,” according to a transcript.

Khan paid $340 for the application and the $2.08 to mail it.

When the brother-in-law got his permanent-residency card, Khan told her, “You gonna get a big piece of cake from me.”

The “piece” was $2,000, according to the charge.

Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Khan Sept. 24.

The previous prosecutor and defense attorney agreed that Khan — a citizen since 2009 with a wife and three young children — deserved a minimal sentence. U.S. District Judge George C. Smith accepted the guilty plea but later removed himself from the case for health reasons.

Defense attorney Deborah L. Williams said Khan wanted only to bring in a family member to help run his business and that there was nothing nefarious.

And, Williams added, Khan gets one day’s credit for being in federal custody after his arrest, so he shouldn’t spend any time in prison.

“That was the agreement,” Assistant U.S. Attorney David DeVillers told Watson.

Neither Williams nor DeVillers was involved with the plea negotiations.

Watson honored the deal, but made Khan promise never to do it again.

Khan will be on supervised release for two years, of which four months will be spent wearing a monitoring device on his ankle.

His brother-in-law remains in Pakistan.