Whatever your view on U.S. immigration policy, it's clear that there are many, many people who, whether they initially entered the U.S. lawfully or unlawfully, would very much like to remain here legally. Every day, the offices of immigration lawyers are flooded with people seeking to extend their student or work visas, move from visa holders to green card holders, apply for U.S. citizenship, or regularize their status here. They are willing to go to great expense and trouble to comply with U.S. law -- and it is indeed a tremendously expensive and difficult process.
People are often desperate and pressed by aggressive timelines. They may face deportation if the byzantine process is not completed quickly and correctly. And, many of them are essentially unfamiliar with the American legal system in which only licensed attorneys are allowed to represent them before the government.
Many come from cultures where the equivalents of "notarios" -- non-attorney advocates -- are commonly used. In the U.S., many seek the assistance of these familiar advocates. Unfortunately, the federal government often considers providing notario services to be a form of immigration fraud.
"[Immigrants] are vulnerable victims," says the director of the Provider Fraud Project of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco, an organization which seeks to educate the immigrant public about the dangers of using notarios. "They tend to be likely to trust somebody who speaks their language fluently and is one of their countrymen, so it's just too easy for them to get victimized."
Undocumented immigrants are probably especially likely to seek the services of a neighborhood notario for help in obtaining legal immigration status. While notarios are often no less expensive than licensed attorneys, many people fear revealing their immigration status to outsiders or don't believe that the attorney-client privilege will be honored. Although the word "notario" is Spanish, these advocates are also common in the Armenian, Korean, Filipino, Cambodian and other communities.
Many immigration attorneys do encounter victims of actual immigration scams -- people who have paid thousands of dollars to obtain green cards or student visas that never materialized. The Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs points to a case in which an Armenian woman was convicted of defrauding immigrants from Singapore, Lithuania and Israel and is serving 10 years in prison. More than 150 people were apparently interviewed in that case, although it is not clear how many of those were actually victims of immigration fraud.
In the past year federal authorities, along with local agencies such as the Department of Consumer Affairs, have been cracking down on notarios and their equivalents. Finding advertisements for such firms in ethnic news outlets, law enforcement has initiated a storm of prosecutions and forcing notarios to pay back their clients up to $7,000 per incident, according to Southern California Public Radio.
Certainly, when you're faced with an underfunded, ossified immigration process that cannot be navigated without help, it makes sense to seek a trusted advocate -- who may be a notario instead of an American lawyer. Is it always a scam? Do you think there is a legitimate place for notarios in our legal system?
Source: KPCC Southern California Public Radio, "Immigrants exploited by 'notarios,' fake attorneys who target the desperate," Ruxandra Guidi, May 29, 2012
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