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Surge in NYC migrants fuels rise in immigration services fraud complaints
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Dec 13, 2024
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Arya Sundaram / Gothamist
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Dec 13, 2024
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New York City's migrant influx over the last two years has been accompanied by another surge — this time in the number of consumer complaints alleging fraud, shoddy work and other wrongful conduct by immigration services providers.
No single source compiles data on complaints, but multiple collecting institutions report upticks.
Complaints to the statewide Office of New Americans immigration hotline more than doubled over the last year, from 21 in 2023 to 58 thus far in 2024, according to Liz Markuci, director of hotline services at Catholic Charities in New York, which runs the state hotline.
Separately, the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has received 39 complaints about immigration service providers this year, which the agency described as a record amount.
The wide range of complaints includes misleading ads, misrepresentation of offered services, uncompleted services, a lack of refunds and missing paperwork, according to agency spokesperson Michael Lanza.
Immigration attorneys attribute the growing complaints to New York City's migrant influx, which has numbered more than 220,000 since 2022; the prevalence of online scams; and the shifting terrain of immigration policy. Some complainants allege they squandered thousands of dollars in the process.
“ There is a perfect storm,” said Markuci.
And as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, immigrant attorneys and advocates say his promises of "mass deportation" have stoked fears among the estimated 600,000-plus New York state residents without legal immigration status.
“ There's heightened fear of what may happen with an incoming administration,” said Manuel Castro, the commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. “So fraudulent providers take advantage of that fear and anxiety in communities, and people sell services that may not be legal or helpful to people.”
For immigrants lacking permanent legal status, getting competent and reliable legal assistance can be critical.
Noncitizens with attorneys are more likely to be released from detention, appear in immigration court, and win their deportation cases, according to a 2016 American Immigration Council report.
The study analyzed more than 1 million cases with a federal database from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the U.S. Department of Justice division that runs immigration courts. Among detainees, represented immigrants were twice as likely to fend off deportation. Those who had never been detained were five times likelier, based on the findings.
The mayor’s office has ramped up legal help for newly arrived asylum-seekers and opened a help center that has filed over 87,000 applications for asylum, work permits, and other immigration relief.
But gaps in immigration legal services continue, and those waiting for help may in desperation turn to dubious practitioners, attorneys said.
The Brooklyn district attorney’s office has also seen an uptick in complaints of immigrant legal fraud, according to David Satnarine, the office's special counsel for immigrant affairs.
There's heightened fear of what may happen with an incoming administration,” said Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Manuel Castro. “So fraudulent providers take advantage of that fear and anxiety in communities, and people sell services that may not be legal or helpful to people.
Manuel Castro, commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs
“Now, they’ve gone digital,” Satnarine said, adding that fraudsters have begun to infiltrate trusted WhatsApp communities for immigrants.
One common ruse is dubbed the “10-year green card” scam, wherein immigrants are falsely told they can easily gain legal permanent residency status solely on the basis that they’ve lived in the United States for 10 years, attorneys said.
In reality, the bar to get a “green card” is much higher. An immigrant must be in deportation court proceedings, and also prove certain family members would suffer "extreme unusual, and exceptional hardship" if the applicant is not granted a green card, according to the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.
In other scenarios, attorneys or people posing as attorneys promise help filing applications for asylum or work permits — only to never provide the promised help. Other fraudsters may charge $40 to help people cut to the front of the line at immigration court, and later disappear, attorneys say.
In one instance reported to the ONA hotline, Markuci said, a family wired $10,000 to a Dominican Republic-based lawyer they found on Facebook to post bond for their son who was being held in an immigration detention facility — only to find out the bond was never paid, and their son was deported.
In another case, a Spanish-speaking woman paid $1,400 for a work permit, and attended a fake online hearing before an impostor judge, Markuci added.
A Venezuelan asylum-seeker named Helen, who asked that her last name be withheld due to fears of jeopardizing her immigration case, told Gothamist she paid $1,500 to someone who held themselves out as a lawyer for help filing an asylum application .
“The attorney took the money and didn’t do anything,” Helen said in Spanish. “I lost all my money.”
Helen said she knows several other asylum-seekers who have fallen prey to similar scams.
New Yorkers can report fraud by calling the state ONA hotline at 800-566-7636. To file a complaint with the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, call 311 or visit the agency’s website.
The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs recommends that consumers only use service providers with physical locations and request proof of accreditation with the U.S. Department of Justice and a signed agreement of services. Immigrants should steer clear of providers that require payment for government application forms, which should be free, according to the office.
Further recommendations are available on the office’s website.
The state attorney general’s office also investigates immigration services fraud. In January, Attorney General Letitia James sued a Bronx immigration lawyer over allegations the attorney and his office filed false relief applications that resulted in green card denials and deportations.
The attorney, Kofi Amankwaa, pleaded guilty in September to large-scale immigration fraud in a separate criminal case pursued by U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams.
Williams said in a statement that the now “former immigration attorney” supervised a multiyear scheme in which thousands of fraudulent immigration documents were filed.
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new york
Race And Justice Unit
Arya Sundaram
Arya is a reporter covering race and justice. Got a tip? Email: [email protected] or reach Arya on Signal at 512-650-8767.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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