ERIN, ERNIE III, AND ERNIE HERNANDEZ SUED IN FEDERAL COURT FOR FRAUDULENT 72-HOUR MARRIAGE WAIVERS

By Juan Montoya
A couple who is in the process of acquiring legal residency filed a lawsuit in federal court today charging that JP 2-2 Erin Hernandez Garcia's selling them a fraudulent 72-hour waiting period "waiver" may put their residency application in danger, delay it or cause it to be rejected altogether by immigration officials.
Alberto Maldonado and Claudia Esmeralda Gonzalez are the plaintiffs and name Erin Hernandez Garcia, Ernest Hernandez III, Pct. 2 Commissioner Ernie Hernandez, Ernest Hernandez III and Cameron County as defendants in the case styled 1:13-CV-00196 filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Brownsville.
The plaintiffs claim that they filed their lawsuit pursuant to the civil rights and RICO statutes contained in USC 191 and 18 USC. RUCO stands for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a  United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.
The plaintiffs state that on May 29, 2013, they presented themselves for a marriage application at the offices of JP 2-2 Garcia-Hernandez who told them they could be married immediately because she had the authority to legally grant them a waiver to the required 72-hour waiting period.
"Based upon this information, and because they informed (her) that they had pending immigration appointment fcr Maldonado to obtain his legal residency as his wife to be had already obtained in conjunction with her employment as an engineer in Cameron County.
The couple says that Erin Garcia-Hernandez "is an attorney and knows full well, or should know full well that she is not one of the designated authorized persons, pursuant to the Texas Family Code who has authority or the legal ability to waive the 72-hour waiting period. Furthermore, they charge that "this fraud was the subject of collective renumeration."
"This now gravely complicates the immigration process and status since the Department of Immigration looks upon sham marriages, fraudulently obtained marriages, 'quickie' marriages, and can delay, or ultimately deny legal residency and ultimately citizenship to those who have participated in such a scheme," their lawsuit states.
The "waiver" used by Garcia-Hernandez in at least 13 marriages allowing them to forgo the 72-hour waiting period was manufactured in-house by her or her staff, courthouse sources say. The use of that "waiver" – which according to state law can only be issued by a district court, a family court, appelate judge or supreme court justice – resulted in a $40 fee charged by Grcia_Hernandez to unwary couples, which she pocketed. When a court with the authority to issue a waiver, it puts $237 into the district clerk's coffers and a file is opened in district court. Garcia-Hernandez's "waivers" were not filed with the county clerk's office and there is no record of them in the clerk's archives.
A copy of a real waiver is depicted at right. The on eproduced in Erin Garcia-Hernandez's office is below.
Since Erin Garcia-Hernandez's father is a county commissioner, the couple says that he wields the authority and oversight to see to it that the county auditor monitors the activity of the JP's office.
Furthermore, since the county places all documents, including the

waiver and the marriage certificate on file with other appropriate county officials, it makes the county responsible for acting under the color of law as (Erin Garcia-Heranndez), and ultimately besmirching, despoiling and potentially blocking immigration status of these plaintiffs and at least 12 others.
The couple also charges that commissioner Hernandez "did not use the public access and open -bidding procedure to obtain the (office-holders) bond for his daughter, and instead had that bond issued by his son Ernesto Hernandez III for the performance of the duties of his daughter (Erin)."
When Erin took office to fulfill the unexpired term of Tony Torres on November 3, instead of turning toward Tamez's Legacy Insurance, who was awarded the county's performance bond insurabnce contract, she turned to another vendor. That vendor turned out to be none other than her brother, owner of CNA Surety, with its agent of record Ernie J. Hernandez III doing business out of 1425 FM 802, Ste. R, in Brownsville. In case you missed the connection, that's the commissioner's son and the justice of the peace's brother.
In case the lawsuit should go bad for the justice of the peace, will her brother's insuracne have to fork out any monetary penalties for damages?
The couple's lawsuit sates that those actions amount to "fraud and misrepresentation and the intentional infliction of emotional distress and a civil conspiracy," the lawsuit states.
They brought this action to verify and prove they are not participants in this fraud so as to damage, destroy, or deny them legal immigration status.
"That status has already been delayed because of these actions," they state.
Further, the couple asks for a jury trial in federal court and that it order Garcia-Hernandez to "cease and desist" from providing the illegal waivers for the 72-hour waiting period she is not entitled to give; that she cease and desist from collecting or retaining any such monies for such services; and that commissioner Hernandez cease and desist from preventing or requiring the county auditor to audit the activities of of the office of Justice of the Peace Erin Garcia-Hernandez.
The lawsuit also asks that Commissioner Hernandez recuse himself from any such votes involving the review or activities of her office, and furthermore, that, if necessary, the immigration and naturalization service be enjoined from using this marriage as in any way being fraudulent or questionable on the part of the plaintiffs.
The couple is being represented by Ciorpus Christi attorney William J. Tinning, with Brownsville attorney Luis Sorola acting as local co-counsel.
A cursory review of Tinning's career indicates that in 2010 he won a $11,120,000.00 verdict in San Patricio County, the fifth Largest Workplace Safety Verdict in Texas for that year.
In 2003, he won a $225 million wrongful death verdict involving the Ford Motor Company in Duval County. He also won a $4.5 million settlement arising from a death at the Port of Brownsville in Cameron County, to name a few.
The question now becomes: Will the county have to provide the Hernandezes as commisisoner and the justice of the peace with a legal defense? And in case of an adverse verdict against Erin Garcia_Hernandez, will her brother's insurance company have to pay out the plaintiffs because she gave the business to her brother?