News Update - March 14, 2009

By Alan Lee, Esq.

“Immigration Fraud Prevention Act of 2009” Bill Introduced in the Senate

The bill would make it a Federal crime to defraud citizens or non-citizens in connection with any legal immigration issues. Also, the bill would make it a felony for one to falsely misrepresent oneself as an attorney or an accredited representative in any immigration matters. This bill is in response to the growing number of individuals holding themselves out as qualified immigration law attorneys. These “immigrant specialists” or “consultants” often damage an immigration case by filing the wrong documents, missing a deadline, or failing to fully disclose all of the relevant information. This leads to harsh results to immigrants such as a permanent loss of work authorization or relief from deportation.


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.

 

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