http://www.mercurynews.com

Posted on Thu, Jan. 26, 2006



Mexican consul offers free legal hotline
24-HOUR SERVICE BASED ON L.A. MODEL
By Katherine Corcoran
Mercury News

Starting today, Mexican nationals living in Northern California will have access to free legal advice in Spanish through the Mexican consulate offices in San Jose, San Francisco and Sacramento.

The 24-hour, seven-day-a-week telephone hotline, called Jurimex, is an expansion of legal services already available to Mexican nationals in Los Angeles County.

``It's open to everyone in the Mexican community, anyone holding a matricula or a passport,'' said Agustin Pradillo, spokesman for the Mexican Consul General in San Francisco. ``Any kind of problems, civil, labor, migratory, family, any kind of problem.''

Consulates emphasize that Jurimex does not handle issues of passports or identification cards and other services provided by the office.

The Northern California consuls general will sign a memorandum of understanding today with Gregory Moreno of Moreno, Becerra and Casillas, a Southern California law firm with offices in the Bay Area that will staff the hotline free of charge.

Mexican nationals, who number about 1.5 million in the Bay Area, will be entitled to free legal advice via telephone and at least one free follow-up visit, if lawyers need to see documents or paperwork.

``A lot of problems can be resolved with a phone call,'' Moreno said. ``The more the word gets out, the more they're able to use it and avoid problems that occur, whether it's fraudulent services or misunderstandings about what their legal rights are. . . . In a lot of cases it's an opportunity to avoid paying unnecessary fees.''

Immigrants or foreign residents, particularly those who don't speak English, have little knowledge of laws and legal rights and can fall prey to scams and schemes. Many become victims of immigration consultants who charge exorbitant fees and provide false documents. But they fear coming forward because they are in the U.S. illegally.

``Whether it's a small company or large company, many employers take advantage if they know you're undocumented,'' said Julian Martinez, a day laborer who came from Puebla three years ago and lives in San Jose. ``This will tell people what they can do (legally) and what they can't do.''

Israel Ibarra of Salinas, who was at the San Jose consulate Wednesday to get an identification card for his son, noted that there are lots of people with many questions.

``With this service,'' Ibarra said, ``there are many more possibilities for getting information.''

The Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles has seven law firms working pro bono for Jurimex. It received 20,000 calls in 2005, the first full year of operation, resulting in 6,315 legal cases.

Mexican nationals always could seek legal help through consulates, but they had to appear in person and couldn't get services after hours or on weekends. The new service makes legal advice available at all times to people in far-flung areas of the state.

``This is a unique feature worldwide because no other consular offices offer these kinds of services,'' said Ambassador Ruben Beltran, Mexican Consul General in Los Angeles. ``We know for a fact that legal emergencies don't correspond with office hours.''

The toll-free number is (800) 668-1005.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Katherine Corcoran at kcorcoran@ mercurynews.com or (40 920-5330.