Immigrants Falling Prey to Sham Legal Experts

Promising to cut through a complex maze of new immigration laws, “experts” have cropped up all over Oxnard in recent months--but many are not licensed and are scamming residents out of thousands of dollars, authorities say.

Gary Auer, chief investigator for the Ventura County district attorney’s office, said his office has launched an investigation after calls began pouring in from people claiming to have been ripped off by bogus immigration attorneys.

“In many cases, our office has determined these individuals have not been properly licensed or bonded,” Auer said. “But these are people promising to provide legal immigration or counseling services.”

The Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act, signed by President Clinton in the waning days of his presidency, has sent people scrambling to take advantage of new legislation, some provisions of which are only available through April.

The law will grant some tens of thousands of illegal immigrants long-sought green cards. It also seeks to reunite families by expanding visas to spouses and children, and will allow some people who are in the country illegally to apply and wait for citizenship without leaving the United States.

But the new guidelines for eligibility are so complex, even some legitimate immigration experts are struggling to understand them, said Oralia Razo, an employee with El Concilio Del Condado de Ventura, a nonprofit advocacy organization serving the county’s Latino community.

“I’ve actually laid awake at night just thinking about this,” said Razo, adding that she worried she and her two part-time assistants would never be able to answer all the questions from people eager to take advantage of the law. Since January, El Concilio has averaged about 100 calls a day.

And in recent weeks, the organization’s Oxnard office has been crammed with people, said Hank Lacayo, board president.

“We’ve had so many people, we were in danger of violating the fire code,” Lacayo said. “One evening, I couldn’t get out. People were standing against the wall, sitting on the floor, just all over the place.”

The initial application to the federal government costs $110. Another $1,000 penalty may be required, but is due at a later date, if the immigrant is in the United States illegally.

But some misinformed immigrants have shelled out as much as $5,000 to people claiming to be immigration experts who have answers. Some pretend to be attorneys. Others allege they are notary publics, Lacayo said, because in Mexico, notary publics must also hold a license to practice law.

Fillmore resident Maria Abundis, 37, said she paid $3,000 to a man claiming to be an attorney. Abundis has lived in the United States for 15 years, but she was born in Mexico. Though she is a legal resident, her two children, ages 18 and 19, are not. The sham attorney promised to zip through the necessary forms to give them legal status.

“He told me, ‘Don’t worry, in four months it will be done,’ ” said Abundis, who was pregnant at the time. “It was a lie.”

When she returned to his office months later, the attorney, and his office, were gone.

“It makes me angry,” Abundis said. “We didn’t know what to do.”

Abundis went to El Concilio on Thursday and began the immigration process again.

“It’s awful, because people don’t understand the laws and then they end up trying to get help and they just get cheated,” Lacayo said. “They are easy targets.”

Such crimes often go unreported, Lacayo said. Because many of those victimized are in the country illegally, they are fearful of turning to the police, believing they will be arrested, deported, or both.

Oxnard Police Sgt. Tim Combs said it is a common problem. But police are not interested in deporting such crime victims, Combs said.

“I’ve seen that throughout my career,” Combs said. “They are victims of street crimes, fraud, robberies, put in substandard housing, but they won’t go to the police. . . . But we do want them to come to us. Our job is not to work immigration, it is to protect the residents of our community.”

Auer added that anyone afraid of the authorities should at least contact an organization they feel comfortable dealing with, like El Concilio, and report the fraud to them. The agency can then report the crime to his office.

“There are other alternatives if we are in position to know a crime has occurred and we have reliable information,” Auer said.

Lacayo said his office is scrambling, meanwhile, to handle the onslaught of additional inquiries. El Concilio has scheduled weekly information sessions on Saturdays, including one today at 10 a.m.

The board president said he has also asked the Mexican-American Bar Assn. to send over six attorneys to assist with questions. Those attorneys will be available most Saturdays, but Lacayo suggests calling El Concilio at 486-9777 for the exact time they will be available.