News Update - September 19, 2009

By Alan Lee, Esq.^†‡

New York State and New York City Crack Down on Immigration Consulting Businesses, and What You Can Do If You Are a Victim

Both New York State and New York City are investigating and taking actions against immigration consulting businesses providing non-lawyer advice and work for immigrants. On August 20, 2009, New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced that his office had shut down three New York companies providing unauthorized and fraudulent legal services to immigrant communities. Immigration Solutions and Systems Inc., Alisandra Multi Services Inc., and All Immigration Services are now permanently barred from operating a business providing immigration consulting services and must collectively pay approximately $118,000 in penalties. In addition, Mr. Cuomo announced separate lawsuits in the New York Supreme Court against three additional companies providing legal services to immigrants which they were neither authorized nor accredited to provide. These companies are Immigration Community Service Corporation of Manhattan, Professional Solutions Consultants (doing business as Reliable Clerical Services and Reliable Immigration Services) and Centro Santa Ana.

Mr. Cuomo stated that the consequences of bad legal advice can be absolutely devastating and that "Fraudulent legal services can haunt individuals and their families for a lifetime. Companies and individuals that represent someone in a legal proceeding without having the authority to do so must be stopped, and my office will hold them accountable."

In separate news, outgoing Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced on August 6, 2009, the indictment and arrest of two individuals for illegally practicing law and operating a fraudulent immigration consulting business in Chinatown. The defendants, Tong Hui You aka Kevin You, and Xiao Ling Chen aka Linda Chen, were indicted on charges of grand larceny, a scheme to defraud, practicing or appearing as an attorney of law without being admitted and registered, and violating the Immigration Assistance Services Act. They operated a consulting agency called Da Bure Immigration Consultation Inc., at 9 East Broadway and later at 15 Division Street in a business purporting to offer assistance with applications and petitions pending with the U.S.C.I.S.

Individuals who have been a victim of immigration assistance fraud are urged to call the New York State Attorney General's Immigration Services Fraud Unit Hotline at (212) 416-6149 or the New York City District Attorney's Office Immigrant Affairs Program at (212) 335-3600. Language assistance is available at these numbers.

† The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

‡ This article © 2009 Alan Lee, Esq.

Copyright © 2003-2012 Alan Lee, Esq.
The information provided here is of a general nature and may not apply to any particular set of facts or circumstances. It should not be construed as legal advice and does not constitute an engagement of the Law Office of Alan Lee or establish an attorney-client relationship.