Guatemalan Man Charged with Fraudulently Obtaining Custody of Unaccompanied Migrant Child While Residing Illegally in New Jersey

Federal complaint alleges false claims of paternity and identity in sponsorship applications to gain custody of unaccompanied alien children in 2022.

A Guatemalan national residing unlawfully in the United States has been charged with submitting false sponsorship applications to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) in a scheme to gain custody of two unaccompanied alien children, federal authorities announced. The charges were filed in a federal complaint on May 14, 2025, by U.S. Attorney Alina Habba and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The defendant, identified as Luciano Tinuar Quino, also known as Luciano Tinuar Guino, 57, is a citizen of Guatemala who had been living in the Orange, New Jersey area after entering the United States unlawfully in 2016. He is charged with two counts of making false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements, each carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

According to the complaint, in 2022, Tinuar Quino applied to sponsor two Guatemalan boys who entered the U.S. as unaccompanied alien children (UACs). He allegedly submitted applications using aliases and identification documents belonging to others, falsely claiming to be the father of each child. These representations were made to ORR, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is responsible for the care and placement of UACs.

Based on these alleged false statements, ORR released one of the UACs into Tinuar Quino’s custody on or about May 19, 2022. However, the second child was not released to him, as concerns were raised regarding Tinuar Quino’s identity and his claimed relationship to the minor.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with assistance from the FBI's Legal Attaché in Guatemala, HSI’s Center for Countering Human Trafficking in Washington, D.C., and officials from ORR.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Sussman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Narcotics/OCDETF Unit, Senior Trial Attorney Christian Levesque of the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, and Trial Attorney Spencer M. Perry of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, with additional analytical support from the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section.

The allegations remain accusations. Tinuar Quino is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.