Thread: Crackdown on scam immigration services announced

NJ Crackdown on scam immigration services announced

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qst ... FlZUVFeXkz
By HEATHER HADDON
HERALD NEWS

PATERSON, NJ-- In Latin America, notario publico means a lawyer. But in New Jersey, a notary public can't process immigration documents or offer legal advice.

Here, unscrupulous notaries capitalize on the confusion by offering their services in Spanish and other languages at easy-to-find storefront operations. And with that trust they bilk immigrants of thousands of dollars in supposed legal fees and place them at high risk for deportation.

A notary public in the United States -- who needs little more than $25 for a license -- shares few things with a lawyer. And on Monday, state Attorney General Anne Milgram came to the Silk City to announce a campaign to increase policing and public education about notaries public posing as immigration lawyers.

Milgram said she chose Paterson because of its diversity and large Hispanic population, which has particularly fallen victim to the decades-old scam with disastrous consequences.

"More immigrants end up deported because of faulty paperwork than all workplace raids combined," said Daniel Santo Pietro, of the Hispanic Directors Association of New Jersey, a coalition of nonprofit service organizations.

Legally, notaries are allowed to authorize affidavits, real estate titles and oaths. They can charge $2.50 for each service.

Notary applicants submit $25 and a one-page form to their local legislator, and it is sent on to the state Division of Taxation. Once approved for a five-year term, applicants can buy their seal for about $40.

Carol Cuadrado, a staffer for Assemblywoman Nellie Pou, D-Paterson, said their office processed 400 notary applications last year.

New Jersey is home to more than 200,000 licensed notaries, according to the state. The Division of Taxation approves about 30,000 new and renewal applications annually.

Many of those notaries fan out to businesses that immigrants often turn to, such as storefront tax centers and travel agencies.

Some notaries, like Luis Ramos, 34, of Paterson, make house calls. The Puerto Rican native also provides translation services.

But the convenience can come with a hefty price. Unscrupulous notaries ask clients to shell out thousands of dollars in exchange for work permits, asylum status or a visa, lawyers say.

Months later, victims realize their bad luck when the notary disappears, or federal authorities come looking for them for falsified papers.

Laureana Organ, of the Hackensack-based Dominican-American Organization, remembers how one of her clients paid $3,000 to a notary operating out of a Union City hair salon. That Mexican native ended up getting deported.

She now sees victims of notary fraud daily, she said.

"This has been happening for years and years," she said. "Many people think they can't complain."

The state will use consumer fraud law to initiate criminal or civil cases against offending notaries, with penalties growing to $20,000, the Attorney General said Monday.

The state will not devote additional staffing or other resources to the campaign, but may do so later, Milgram said. Her office now has two open cases against notaries in its first enforcement efforts.

Immigration advocates welcomed the attorney general's attention to a persistent, widespread problem. But some lawyers worried that enforcement will proceed too slowly on the state level, and wished county prosecutors could also be involved.

"It's a great step," said Sohail Mohammed, a Clifton immigration attorney. "But it's not the final solution."

Reach Heather Haddon at 973-569-7121 or haddon@northjersey.com.

Do these illegals who go to such services then be classified as Victims of a Crime and are eligible to get a U-VISA? Anyone can then stage a fraudalent scheme to a group of illegals and run, thus help these same group get legal visas!! What a dirty loophole of a scam that would be!

Did Bush come up with this U-visa? Is DHS run by American citizens?