Texas man killed by bystander in what appeared to be a robbery. It turned out the robbery was a staged immigration fraud

An unnamed bystander in Texas did what Texans often do in January, and used his firearm to stop what appeared to be a violent robbery in progress. Now, police are saying that the “robbery” was in fact staged for the benefit of a fraudulent visa application, but the “robber” is still dead, and the fake “victims” are apparently nowhere to be found.

According to KRTK-TV, the incident occurred at a Houston gas station on January 27th of this year. The Houston Police department initially believed that the gunman, who has not been identified, opened fire on Rasshauud Scott when he saw Scott apparently attempting to rob a couple. Scott later died of his wounds.

Further investigation, however, indicated that Scott and a potential partner regularly ran a scam that was designed to help illegal immigrants commit immigration fraud. The scam is designed to help immigrants obtain a “U visa,” which is given to individuals who are victims of crime and are permitted to stay in the country as potential witnesses while their crimes are being investigated. Under the scam, someone stages a robbery somewhere that there are security cameras, such as at a gas station, and the “victims” then get to stay legally in the country, often for years, as the case goes unresolved.

When police went through Scott’s phone, they found numerous texts between Scott and one of his partners laying out the schemes, as well as selfies with Scott and the alleged “victims” of the robbery. Police say they found evidence on Scott’s phone that he and his partner(s) ran this particular scam numerous times dating back to 2023, including one on the night before the fatal shooting.

Perhaps not surprisingly, KRTK could not locate any charges that had been filed against Scott’s fake “victims,” even though police are now clearly in possession of the fact that they were caught committing immigration fraud.

Houston was a sanctuary city prior to the adoption of S.B. 4 in 2017 which made sanctuary cities illegal in Texas. Houston joined several other Texas cities who have unsuccessfully sued to block enforcement of S.B. 4.