‘Experts’ Ads Exploit New Hopes of Aliens

The ink was hardly dry on the new immigration bill when the advertisements began appearing in Spanish-language media in Southern California. To the area’s large illegal alien population, the message was clear: You had better act quickly to qualify for the long-awaited amnesty--the provisions of the new law under which some undocumented immigrants can legalize their status in the United States.

“Don’t wait any longer!” warned one notice. “Put your papers in order.”

“Do it for your children,” a radio announcer urged.

“Specialists in: AMNESTY,” read another ad. “In only three months.”

Too Early to Start

What these ads did not mention was that U.S. authorities will not accept amnesty applications until next May, and that, according to immigration attorneys and other experts, there are no “specialists” in amnesty because the law is so new and official guidelines so sparse.

“You cannot be an expert because there’s just not enough information about amnesty,” said John A. Joannes, who heads the Los Angeles County Bar Assn.’s legal assistance project. “We don’t have any regulations, we don’t have any forms, we don’t know how it will be administered. . . .”

Nonetheless, a wide range of lawyers, immigration “consultants” and other enterprising businessmen have flooded Spanish-language airwaves and newsprint with a tidal wave of advertisements designed to garner business by providing advice on amnesty.

Although the problem seems to be centered in Los Angeles, ads from so-called amnesty specialists also have been appearing in San Diego and throughout the Southland. In addition, a number of Tijuana-based radio stations have been broadcasting immigration-related advertising since the passage of the bill.

$1,000 Price Tag

Ads have also appeared in the English-language media, including free shopping publications. The promotional barrage--complete with prospective prices of $1,000 or more for each person applying for amnesty--appears to be one of the most immediate effects of the landmark legislation, which President Reagan signed into law on Nov. 6.

“We have been besieged by consultants, legal clinics, notary publics, what have you, seeking to advertise immigration assistance,” said Jose Lozano, publisher of La Opinion, the Los Angeles-based Spanish-language newspaper, which has a long-standing ban against publishing immigration-related advertising.

“It’s increased 1,000%,” said Alfredo Rodriguez, program director for Spanish-language radio station KWKW in Los Angeles, referring to immigration-related advertising.

So prevalent is the promotional surge that an apparently apocryphal tale circulating in legal circles involves an immigration attorney who purportedly hired an airplane to fly over heavily Latino East Los Angeles and drop leaflets hyping his services. “If that’s true,” said one Los Angeles immigration lawyer, “I’m going to be negotiating with the Goodyear blimp people.”

Bar to Monitor Ads

Nationwide, the American Bar Assn. plans to monitor legal advertising as part of its broader examination of the effects of the new bill, said Craig Baab, staff director for the Bar’s coordinating committee on immigration law. “No lawyer is in a position to guarantee a result,” he said.

The spate of ads, experts said, reflects a great information void in the illegal alien community: People are desperate for details on amnesty, but accurate information is hard to come by at a time when U.S. officials are still working on implementation of the complex law.

“People want advice,” said Roberto L. Martinez, a social worker in the undocumented alien community in San Diego, “but we have to tell them to sit tight because we don’t know how it will all work.”

Although the majority of ads appear to make no false claims to guarantee amnesty, observers say that others are clearly misleading. Moreover, much of the promotional material implies a sense of urgency that many experts say is totally inappropriate considering the many still-to-be-answered questions and the lag time before amnesty applications are accepted starting May 5, 1987. Applicants will then have one year to submit their claims for amnesty; the earliest an applicant can win full citizenship is 1993.

‘Taking Advantage’

“It’s outrageous to say the least,” said Linda Wong, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Los Angeles. “The bottom line is that these people are taking advantage of the undocumented community.”

Officials of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which has begun setting up the amnesty program, are also warning consumers to be wary. The law provides potential amnesty for illegal aliens who have resided continuously in the United States since Jan. 1, 1982, and for others who have worked in agriculture for at least 90 days in the 12-month period ending on May 1, 1986.

Said Tom Gaines, an INS official in Los Angeles: “We’re just very concerned that people who may be entitled to legal benefits will be taken advantage of.”

The sudden increase in immigration-related advertising--and the potential for misleading ads--have forced some Spanish-language media companies to reassess and in some cases alter their guidelines for accepting commercial material.

Screening Ad Copy

Representatives of both Spanish-language television stations in Los Angeles, KVEA, Channel 52, and KMEX, Channel 34, which beam all over the Southland, said they were accepting immigration-related commercials on a case-by-case basis after first screening the copy.

“I’m only taking (commercials) from licensed attorneys who can prove to me that they have some expertise in immigration law,” said Frank Cruz, vice president at KVEA. “I think the way the law is written there is certainly a lot of opportunity for unscrupulous attorneys, as well as consultants, as well as so-called ‘immigration experts,’ to abuse people.”

“Some of our early copy, which we pulled off the air . . . was misleading,” acknowledged Jerry Symon, local sales manager for KTNQ-AM and KLVE-FM, two jointly owned Spanish-language radio stations in Los Angeles. “Now it’s pretty tough to get bad copy on the radio.”

Although the volume of misleading advertising appears to have risen since passage of the law, such misinformation is an old story in the Latino community. For years, would-be immigrants have complained of being defrauded by those in the maze of immigration attorneys, consultants and others claiming expertise in the Byzantine field of immigration law.

‘Very Sensitive Area’

“The history of immigration rip-offs of the Hispanic community is very, very long,” said Cruz of KVEA. “It’s a very sensitive area, where the law is extremely complex, with constant changes.”

Still, authorities say that disciplinary action or prosecution of lawyers and others engaged in fraudulent immigration-related advertising is infrequent. Officials note that the victims are often poor and are unlikely to approach authorities if they have been defrauded.

Despite the potential for fraudulent advertising, lawyers and others working in the field defend their use of the media as necessary to reach potential clients.

“As long as it (advertising) is in good taste, I don’t have any problems with it,” said Wayne Gomez, an attorney in Vista, Calif., who has advertised his services on a Tijuana-based radio station. “It’s really a whole new market. . . . The people I deal with as a general rule are not exposed to the Establishment media, and I feel this gives me the exposure.”

Ad Supplement Published

Among the most dramatic examples of the recent boom are the proliferation of ads that accompanied two special immigration supplements published in Los Angeles by Noticias del Mundo, a nationwide Spanish-language daily affiliated with the Unification Church. On Nov. 11, five days after the bill was passed into law, an eight-page supplement contained 25 advertisements from Los Angeles-area firms offering immigration-related services.

“Amnestia Esta Aqui” (Amnesty is here) stated one Los Angeles law firm.

Another firm, called Casa Latina, with four offices in the Los Angeles area, described itself as amnesty “specialists.” In the ad copy, the word amn e stia was followed by the phrase, “En Solo Tres Meses!”--In Only Three Months!

Richard Miranda, a paralegal who is the director of Casa Latina, acknowledged in an interview that no one could acquire amnesty in three months and that there were no specialists in the still-murky area. The ad was modified last week, he added.

“If a client walks into this office and wants amnesty in three months, I tell him, ‘You must be mad, because there’s nothing we can do,’ ” Miranda said.

Admits Error

An ad with similar claims, published in the same supplement by attorney Alejandro Nassif Lopez, also was in error and has been pulled, the attorney said.

“Perhaps I made a mistake, but I corrected it almost immediately,” Nassif Lopez said.