Thread: Salvation Army Feels Sting of Aiding Illegal Aliens

Wonder if they learned their lesson?

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/14629025.htm

Immigrants file fraud suit against Salvation Army, ex-officialsAssociated Press
ELIZABETH, N.J. - A half-dozen illegal immigrants are suing the Salvation Army and two of its former officials under New Jersey's consumer fraud law, claiming the two local officials took their money under false promises of serving as a "bridge" to gaining legal status.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in state Superior Court in Union County, claims the Rev. Enoc Tito Sotelo told his mostly Latino congregation at Plainfield's two-story Salvation Army church that he would help them become Americans if they each paid $4,000 and gave a $500 donation to the church.

Gilberto Garcia, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, says Sotelo and Jorge Sancho, a Salvation Army captain assigned to the Christian organization's Bound Brook office, used the Salvation Army's reputation to harm his clients. Garcia said the Salvation Army should have known about the two men's activities.

Trish Pelligrini, a spokeswoman for the Salvation Army's New Jersey chapter, declined to comment on the lawsuit when contacted by newspapers, saying the organization had yet to see the suit.

But she said Sotelo was fired in April, and Sancho was dismissed from his job in November.

Pelligrini was not sure of the exact reason why Sotelo and Sancho were let go. But she acknowledged that Sotelo was fired after an internal investigation conducted by Maj. Stephen Banfield, the New Jersey Salvation Army's divisional commander.

The investigation was initiated after complaints about the two men appeared in the Spanish-language newspaper El Diario/La Prensa.

No working telephone numbers could be found in New Jersey for either Sotelo or Sancho.

The lawsuit claims the plaintiffs - five men and one woman from Latin America - were promised they had been "chosen by God" to be sponsored by the Salvation Army for legal permanent residency in the United States.

An accomplice of the defendants helped them file applications requesting green cards for foreigners with extraordinary abilities, such as professional athletes and scientists, with full knowledge they were not eligible, according to the suit. None of the six received green cards.

Garcia, the immigrants' lawyer, says the lawsuit is possible because New Jersey consumer fraud law does not bar illegal immigrants from suing. The suit seeks class-action status, claiming that possibly hundreds more people were defrauded.

Amy Gottlieb, program director of the American Friends Service Committee's Immigration Rights Program, told The New York Times for Saturday newspapers that she believes immigration fraud schemes are on the rise as Congress debates legislation to crack down on illegal immigration.

"People trust the Salvation Army and go to them when they are desperate so this is particularly worrisome," Gottlieb said.

One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Adriana Saldias, told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Saturday newspapers that she paid the money because she was desperate to achieve legal status so she could return to Chile and see her sick mother.

"I feel defrauded because I was hoping I was going to get my permanent residency so I can go see my mother," Saldias said. "My dream is to see my mother before she dies."

That concludes my help to the SALVATION ARMY.

Freakin' unbelievable! These people are really DUMB!

Let me get this straight.....

ILLEGALS can SUE because they were "defrauded even though they've DEFRAUDED the United States and American tax payers?

huh

Oh...good grief....well....that certainly ends my support for the Salvation Army unless they immedately purge their organization of any program or person aiding and abetting illegal aliens and take stident efforts to ensure that no such nonsense ever occurs again.

Every institution in our land has been infected with this madness.

NO ILLEGAL ALIEN should have access of any kind to our courts for any proceeding other than a deportation administrative confirmation review before they board the bus or plane hauling their butts out of here.

Choose "contact us" under the gray bar, not the black bar. The one under the gray bar takes you to a form. The other one sends you to a mailing address.

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/...1?opendocument

Dixie

That is why I do not donate to either the Salivation Army or the United Fund. Take a look at the list of who they are suppose to be giving these donations to. Where are the American groups? I learned a long time ago not to do things that would help slit my throat. William J. Price

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

Let me get this straight.....

ILLEGALS can SUE because they were "defrauded even though they've DEFRAUDED the United States and American tax payers?

huh

Thats what they get for being illegal and as far as the Salvation Army, they been exploiting people for years so no surprise there.

I have only the info from that article to conjecture with.

Was the event the product of one bad apple?

The Starvation Army (SA) has a good record of helping the down-and-out, females with munchkins fleeing abuse, and a whole lotta' other good deeds.

The "officers" of the Army, the ones doing the grunt work, are paid little. The SA has passed various investigations by agencies and organizations that determine of a charity wisely uses donated funds.

Perhaps the SA as a whole has changed but, I believe it may be possible that one scoundrel may be behind the event.

Before I pass judgement against the entire SA I will need more info.

I am saddened by this.

It doesn't surprise me that the SA would help illegals - as in food, clothing, etc., but the idea of helping them get citizenship is sickening. Could this just be a couple of people acting on their own and not the policy of the SA?

I am skeptical of charities - donate to very few - but SA is/was one of them I do. I have seen them help people, and I do hope they are not corrupt.

In a lot of the Goodwill stores, illegals are doing the work - in the back and as cashiers.