Managing AttorneyCody M. Brown, Esq.
Cody M. Brown is one of the nation’s foremost lawyers on one-sided marriage fraud and the broader category of immigration fraud that causes direct harm to U.S. citizens. His marriage-fraud practice covers the full case lifecycle — fraud investigation, fraud assessment, BIA fraud appeals, federal litigation, sponsor withdrawals, annulment support, and I-864 defense.
Brown is a vocal critic of the weaponization of immigration laws against U.S. citizens and the systemic failures of federal, state, and local governments to protect innocent Americans from false allegations by foreign nationals. His clients include women and men from all walks of life — everyday Americans, high-net-worth individuals, media personalities, and members of the intelligence community. Recognizing that marriage-fraud victims are often targeted for financial exploitation in addition to immigration benefits, Brown frequently consults with local counsel to annul marriages based on fraud in state court and initiates parallel federal actions to protect his clients’ interests.
Brown pioneers novel federal strategies to protect U.S. citizens. He recently helped a marriage-fraud victim secure a landmark Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) precedent decision in Matter of JIN, 29 I&N Dec. 441 (BIA 2026). The ruling forced DHS to investigate post-approval marriage fraud, firmly establishing that an I-130 approval is not a shield against accountability. Brown’s advocacy and the firm’s cases have been prominently featured by national outlets, including the Daily Mail, Law360, The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire, and FAIR.
On June 25, 2025, Brown testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement at the hearing “Restoring Integrity and Security to the Visa Process.” His written testimony delivered a data-driven indictment of how both DHS and DOJ have helped perpetuate a national immigration-fraud crisis, publicly exposing USCIS’s own internal data showing the agency had a fraud-denial rate of effectively zero percent across every major immigration benefit category. The full testimony of record is published here.
Before founding Codias Law, Brown served on the majority staff of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Special Investigation into Hurricane Katrina and as Legislative Counsel for a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, where he managed a national security portfolio. He also served as Senior Counsel to the Project on National Security Reform, a congressionally funded public-private partnership, and consulted with senior leaders at the National Counterterrorism Center and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to assess and strengthen the U.S. government’s strategic operational planning for global counterterrorism. Brown is the author of The National Security Council: A Legal History of the President’s Most Powerful Advisers, featured on C-SPAN2’s BookTV.
Education
- LL.M., Georgetown University Law Center
- J.D., Hamline University School of Law
- B.S., Northwestern College
Admissions
- Minnesota State Bar
- Board of Immigration Appeals
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
If a foreign national has used a marriage to a U.S. citizen as a vehicle for immigration fraud, the firm wants to hear about it. Book a 60-minute consultation