Immigration scams 'turned my life upside down'
More than eight months after Sara Salcido was arrested for working as an unregistered immigration consultant, migrants seeking help with their cases still drive up to Salcido’s empty storefront off of Highway 111 in Cathedral City.
“I tell them she’s gone,” Azzarella said. “I see them every other day. I wish I knew where to send them but I don’t know.”A "For Rent" notice has replaced a large sign declaring, "Immigration and Court Services," in Spanish. Salcido’s former neighbor, Michael Azzarella who runs a jewelry and coin shop next door, greets people looking for help with their immigration cases.
Salcido had been in business for 15 years.
Gobierno recomienda precaución con servicios de migración.
Sara Salcido free on bail in immigration fraud case
It turns out, there are a lot of registered and unregistered immigration consultants willing to help Salcido's former clients.
Dozens of such consultants are operating in Coachella Valley. Many of these businesses are in predominantly Hispanic cities like Cathedral City, Coachella, and Indio.
In theory, consultants are supposed to help migrants fill out immigration forms without giving them legal advice. In practice, migrants who don't have access to lawyers rely on consultants to guide them through a complicated legal system even though they may not be qualified to do so. This dynamic leaves immigrants vulnerable to unscrupulous consultants, advocates say. And, it is unclear if any government agency proactively investigates unregistered immigration consultants in Coachella Valley.
"I think consultants are right now filling a void and the problem I have is that in filling the void they often cause a lot of damage," said Anne Schaufele, a staff attorney at a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit dedicated to helping victims of immigration services fraud.
An unscientific survey by The Desert Sun found at least 24 consulting businesses advertising in the valley, with 11 of them not registered with the Secretary of State. When asked for the number of complaints lodged against such businesses in California, the state Department of Justice declined to release any information, including an aggregate number of grievances, citing pending investigations.
Immigration consultants are allowed to translate and submit legal forms but they cannot give advice. The manner in which consultants fill out paperwork can have life-changing consequences. One wrong answer and the applicant could end up being deported.
Various state and local agencies, including the California Bar Association, the Attorney General, and district attorneys can investigate immigration consultants for illegally offering such services.
Attorney General Kamala Harris did not respond to questions asking how many consultant-related cases her office has prosecuted. Harris has issued various consumer alerts and hosted workshops warning people about the risk of working with unregistered consultants, her spokeswoman said.
The Riverside County District Attorney's Office also did not respond to questions regarding the number of consultant-related cases it has prosecuted. The DA is currently prosecuting Salcido's case.
License Easy to Obtain
Verifying if someone is a registered consultant is relatively easy. All you have to do is search someone's last name on the Secretary of State’s website to check their status.
However, finding a registered consultant doesn't guarantee they know what they are doing.
Under the state's Business and Professions Code, anyone who passes a background check and secures a required $100,000 bond with the Secretary of State can work as an immigration consultant. Nobody is required to pass a test, demonstrate professional experience, or graduate from high school.
Sections of the business code that regulate the immigration consultant industry are often referred to as the Immigration Consultants Act.
“I think it is problematic because what I find is that the Immigration Consultants Act legitimizes businesses who have had no training toward that legitimization,” said Schaufele.
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Like advocates, some consultants believe the bond gives consumers a false sense of security. People with decades of experience can get in trouble for not having a bond while someone with good credit and no high school diploma can easily secure one.
“I can’t think of any other license that you can get without having education or experience or both,” said Leonard Cravens, a lawyer who represents Salcido. “I don’t know how the state protects the public by just making somebody post a bond. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Sections 22440 to 22449 of the California Business and Professions code outline what immigration consultants can and cannot do. The sections provide specific instructions regarding contracts, advertising, and registering with the Secretary of State by securing the $100,000 bond.
For example, consultants must display a notice in both English and their clientele's native language stating that consultants are not attorneys. The businesses are prohibited from making false or misleading statements, charging clients referral fees to see lawyers, and telling them they have special connections with immigration officials that can be leveraged to approve applications.
The pertinent code sections also outline the background check and the $100,000 bond Cravens criticizes. He considers the act unconstitutional and plans to fight it in court.
Cravens believes what Salcido did is more akin to a civil infraction of contracting without a license than the criminal charge of grand theft that she faces. Salcido is accused of accepting money for a job she was not legally authorized to do and is charged with multiple counts of theft. Her case is ongoing.
Every time a consultant commits fraud it reflects poorly on the entire industry, said registered consultant Miriam Ferreyra who runs Profesional Services in Coachella.
Several migrants have walked into Ferreyra's office after being cheated out of hundreds of dollars by other consultants. In some cases they paid for green card applications that were never submitted to the federal government. Before starting to fill out immigration forms, Ferreyra has to tell customers that they've been cheated by other consultants.
"It's sad," she said. “There’s a lot of need and lack of information and it sounds like people are trying to take advantage of everyone."
Across the street from Profesional Services is Silvia Chapa's immigration services business. Chapa is a registered consultant, tax preparer and insurance broker. She has worked in Coachella since the 1980s.
Licenses for taxes and insurance require passing difficult exams but immigration consulting does not, she said.
“There should be some sort of exam for immigration so that they give us some sort of license that says this person has a certain level of experience and level of knowledge that demonstrates they can fill out the forms,” Chapa said.
She relies on decades of experience to help migrants. If she senses that a client needs help with more than just filling out forms, she tells them to see a lawyer. But she is comfortable helping customers select which form to fill out.
“If a person tells me, ‘I want to immigrate my mother who is in Mexico,’ I already know which form is needed to begin the procedure,” Chapa said.
Despite Chapa's best intentions, she could be violating the law by helping customers select which form they need, according to lawyer Rosa Elena Sahagun, who represents local victims of immigration services fraud from her Riverside office.
The role of the consultant is simply to fill out forms, not guide people through immigration procedures, Sahagun said.
“I think (the law) is very clear,” she said. “The person who is assisting cannot in any way ask any questions or give advice or lead the person or tell them what form to submit for certain relief.”
Sahagun has spent the last two years speaking out against unregistered immigration consultants. She publicly attacks them on Facebook and denounces them in television interviews.
Not a Lawyer
In March, Sahagun filed a lawsuit against unregistered Coachella consultant Victor Viruena, claiming he gave a woman named Cristina Hernandez legal advice.
Hernandez called Viruena in 2012 after seeing a two-page ad for his business, Hispano Services, a Spanish-language classified advertisement booklet.
The ad shows Viruena, who used to work at various Mexican consulate offices, flashing a thumbs up and a smile. One page is for bankruptcy services where “all cases are presented by an attorney.” The other page shows various services like civil unions, income tax preparation, divorce, and for immigration.
Hernandez claims Viruena gave her bad legal advice by telling her to go to Mexico in order to obtain a green card. Once she left the country, Hernandez was unable to come back. She did not return to her Palm Springs home until two years after leaving the United States, according to a complaint.
“Hispano Services took my money and completely turned my life upside down,” Hernandez wrote in court documents. “I only paid and risked leaving the country because they promised me that I would get my green card.”
The offices of Hispano Services now have a sign telling people that no lawyers work there. Viruena, who is registered with the county as a legal document assistant or independent paralegal, carries a card that reads, "This person is not a lawyer," across the top.
Cravens, the lawyer representing Salcido, is also representing Viruena.
He believes Sahagun’s case is without merit. Before Sahagun filed the lawsuit, a judge dismissed a civil claim against Hispano Services, Cravens added.
"Our position is Rosa Elena Sagahun is trying to shut down all of her competition by either using the DA or by suing people to scare them out of the business,” Cravens said.
Like Cravens, Viruena believes that the Immigration Consultant Act is unconstitutional. He refuses to get the $100,000 bond.
“If I file for the bond I am accepting that the law is correct but I don’t think the Immigration Consultant Act is correct,” Viruena said.
Viruena, who worked as a lawyer in Mexico, claims to have stopped offering immigration services recently but could not specify the date. He stopped listing immigration services in classified ads sometime after January.
He still posts photos of former clients proudly holding green cards.
How to get help
• File a complaint with the Department of Justice at (888) 587-0557 or http://oag.ca.gov/contact/consumer-complaint-against-business-or-company
• File a complaint with the State Bar of California at (800) 843-9053 or http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Public/AttorneyComplaints/NonattorneyUPLComplaints.aspx
• Find out if an immigration consultant is bonded with the Secretary of State at (916) 653-4984 or http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/sf/bond_search/
Reporter Gustavo Solis can be reached at 760 778 4443 or by email at gustavo.solis@desertsun.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @journogoose.