SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 10: Hundreds of Korean immigrants who have built lives in California over the past decade are facing deportation after learning recently that the green cards they obtained years ago were fake.

In one of the largest green-card fraud schemes in recent Silicon Valley history, a senior San Jose Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) supervisor accepted at least $500,000 in bribes from immigration consultants over 12 years in exchange for green cards he authorized.

The former INS official, Leland Dwayne Sustaire, avoided jail time by testifying in 1999 against the consultants who bribed him. The four brokers, all from the Silicon Valley, are out of prison after serving anywhere from four months to three years behind bars.

One immigrant who received a green card was deported last year. Two others recently went to trial and are awaiting rulings. At least 15 others have received deportation notices. But the consequences for the rest of the 275 mostly Korean immigrants are still largely unknown.

Government prosecutors have acknowledged that the immigrants were unaware of the scam Sustaire conducted out of the INS office in San Jose. Sustaire provided the government with a list of 275 green card numbers that he said he issued as part of the scheme.