Immigration Center Facing Probe May Have Defrauded Thousands

Araceli Scheel has endured much in her young life. A refugee from the political turmoil of El Salvador, where she lost her husband in the civil war, and the repression and poverty of her homeland, Guatemala, she undertook a dangerous journey 9 years ago hoping for a better life here.

Her dreams have come at a cost, however. The Orange County resident is one of thousands of Spanish-speaking immigrants who authorities say may have been defrauded by one of the largest immigration legalization services in the area.

She says she wants her story told so that others might avoid the expense and pain she has endured.

“Maybe others will be motivated to come forward with their stories,” she said, speaking softly through an interpreter. “They are taking in so many people.”

The Orange County district attorney’s office is investigating the owner of Southern California Immigration Center, which Scheel approached for help in handling her amnesty application, on a variety of complaints.

Oscar Salinas, 51, an El Toro businessman who owns the Immigration Center and other area immigration assistance firms, was arrested March 9 at his home and charged with 12 felony counts of tax evasion. Those charges stem from a yearlong, ongoing fraud investigation and were brought because authorities were concerned about a potential danger to the Latino community, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gerald C. Johnston said.

“We proceeded with what we could for right now because of the complaints we have received and our concern for further harm in the community,” he said. “These people are very vulnerable and often easily victimized.”

Salinas could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Lew Geiser, said Salinas has pleaded not guilty to the tax evasion charges. But he would not respond directly to the fraud investigation because no charges have been filed in the case.

“Until a formal charge is levied, and we are informed of specific cases, there is nothing to respond to,” he said.

Johnston would not characterize the specific practices that are being investigated but said they generally involve false promises of amnesty or work permits in exchange for a fee.

Johnston said authorities estimate that about 2,000 people have used Salinas’ companies to get work permits for as much as $2,500 apiece. The firms may represent as many as 5,000 clients altogether, he said.

Robin Blackwell, coordinator for the Santa Ana-based Coalition of Immigrant’s Rights, said her group has been receiving complaints for months about Salinas’ companies and that many in the Latino community are finally willing to take their stories to authorities.

“Many don’t even realize they are being defrauded because they are strung along by a paper process that looks legitimate,” said Blackwell, who is helping the district attorney’s office in the case.

Blackwell said Scheel’s story is typical of others’ experiences since immigration reform laws took effect in 1986.

Scheel, 35, contacted the Southern California Immigration Center in June, 1987, after hearing about its services on a Spanish language radio station.

She had arrived in this country in 1980 from Guatemala after paying $300 to a professional “coyote” to be brought across the border, leaving her three children behind with her parents. Her Salvadoran husband had been killed the same year, before the couple could flee El Salvador.

At first, Scheel lived with a brother in Costa Mesa. Then for 2 years she worked as a live-in housekeeper for an attorney.

She paid $2,000 for a family acquaintance to retrieve her children from Guatemala, and they arrived in 1981.

Scheel wanted to stay in the country and decided to apply for amnesty, but says she was told by an employee of the Southern California Immigration Center that she did not qualify because she had left the United States for a week in 1984.

She says she was told that the company instead could obtain a work permit and a non-immigrant visa for her for $3,500. She signed a contract and paid $1,500, promising the rest in monthly payments.

During the months that followed, the firm sent Scheel various cards and documents identifying her as someone who had applied for a work permit--none of which carried the weight of law, Blackwell said.

In fact, Scheel did qualify for amnesty, Blackwell said.

“She was inappropriately told she did not qualify and advised to seek something much more expensive and paid money she didn’t need to,” Blackwell added.

Scheel learned that she was eligible for amnesty when she sought a second opinion from advisers at St. Anne’s Church in Santa Ana. She applied the day before amnesty expired.

Still, she continued to send monthly payments to the Immigration Center. She also kept letters from them warning that whatever she read in the media about amnesty eligibility was false.

Scheel said she stuck with the center when they offered to represent her at her amnesty interview with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. But when the adviser they sent didn’t even speak Spanish, she stopped her payments.

“I came to believe more and more that this place was not providing legitimate help,” she said.

She took her case to the Orange County Human Relations Commission after reading about Salinas’ arrest.

She said she still receives letters from the Immigration Center demanding that she pay more than the $600 they claim she owes.

“The bad part is that I referred at least 10 people to that place,” she said. “I know people who are still making payments to them. I thought it was a way for people to get” legal status.