Immigrants May Be Fed False Stories to Bolster Asylum Pleas

Notarios may handle everything from money transfers to immigrants' applications for asylum.

By SAM DOLNICK
Published: July 11, 2011

The man caught on the wiretap urged his immigrant client to fabricate a tragic past if he wanted asylum in the United States. To say that he was a victim of political repression in Albania. Or police brutality. Or even a blood feud.

“Maybe you had to leave because someone threatened to kill you,â€