Los Angeles Immigration Lawyers Preying On Illegals?
At least one Los Angeles immigration lawyer thinks some dishonest lawyers have used recent talk of a new amnesty law to prey on the fears of those living in the US illegally. Guatemalan immigrant Celso Mejia agrees. He claims a Los Angeles immigration lawyer who was later disbarred charged him over $6,000 for work that was never done. Mr. Mejia says the Los Angeles immigration lawyer in question promised him a green card for $3,600. At the time Mr. Mejia was living in the US illegally and working as a handyman. And when immigration authorities denied his application the attorney insisted on another $3,000 to appeal the decision. It was at the point the Mr. Mejia figured he was being taken for a ride. And to make matters worse, not only had his application been rejected but it had alerted immigration authorities to his presence in the US...his illegal presence. Considering the circumstances, Mr. Mejia felt like he had no choice but to fork over the $3,000 so he did. And that was the last he ever saw of this particular Los Angeles immigration attorney. When he received a deportation letter in the mail, he fearfully ran to his immigration attorney's office. But the office was vacant and there was no forwarding address. Another dishonest Los Angeles immigration attorney had flown the coup with an immigrant's hard-earned money. Mr. Mejia annual salary was about $20,000 so $6,600 represented over 30% of his annual income. Thankfully Mr. Mejia was granted permanent resident status and a green card when he turned to a second immigration attorney who was able to clean up the mess. It turns out the Los Angeles immigration attorney who fleeced Mr. Mejia had made a habit of preying on immigrants. When he was disbarred, the California State Bar Association cited him for misconduct involving eight illegal immigrants and Mr. Mejia wasn't even one of them so who knows how many immigrants he really robbed. The Department of Homeland Security estimates the number of illegal immigrants in the US to be about nine million. There may not be that many crooked Los Angeles immigration attorneys but their numbers are swelling too. Whenever the opportunity arises you can bet the con men will soon arrive. This is almost the perfect scenario. Immigrants living in a foreign country threatened by talk of a crackdown that would drive them back to their poverty-stricken countries in search of a green card, the winning lottery ticket to a better life. Unscrupulous immigration lawyers and crooks posing as consultants are only too happy to make empty promises, take their money, and run. It's sad but true. Immigration officials are aware of the situation and trying to make changes to fix it but it's a difficult situation. Immigrants only get information in bits and pieces and many times the information - or actually misinformation - comes from the con artists themselves. |
