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Unethical lawyers and other scam artists that prey on New York’s immigrant community have been put on notice. The state has the means to keep tabs on them and will come down hard on anyone attempting to defraud or exploit this particularly vulnerable population.
New York State’s Office for New Americans, in cooperation with a coalition of partners, including Catholic Charities, rolled out a new comprehensive initiative at a press conference at the new headquarters of Catholic Charities’ Division of Immigration and Refugee Services in Lower Manhattan Sept. 18 to combat fraud against immigrants across New York State. The initiative follows legislation recently signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo mandating stricter requirements for immigration assistance providers and tougher penalties for those who scam the system.
“We’ve got to deliver the message that if you take advantage of immigrants it’s a crime. It’s a serious crime and we are going to prosecute you,” said New York Secretary of State Cesar Perales. “We’re taking proactive steps and empowering our immigrant communities through legitimate services to create a safe and fair economic landscape that will benefit every New Yorker.”
A main component of the new initiative will be the expansion of the New York State New Americans Hotline—800-566-7636—operated by Catholic Charities to serve as a resource to coordinate immigration fraud complaints as well as to offer service referrals.
“Catholic Charities has long welcomed and protected the newcomer,” said Msgr. Kevin Sullivan, executive director of Catholic Charities. “Through the New Americans Hotline, we continue to provide timely information and referrals for those needing a range of help: legal representation, family reunification and unfortunately, protection from exploitation. This new law provides an enhanced opportunity for Catholic Charities in partnership with New York State to protect immigrants—always with dignity and compassion.”
Beatriz Diaz Taveras, executive director of Catholic Charities Community Services, told CNY as many as 10 percent of the calls coming into the hotline deal with fraud issues.
“If a caller states that he or she has been defrauded we offer assistance in filing that complaint,” she explained. “We use a form that was developed in cooperation and collaboration with both the D.A.’s office and the Attorney General’s office. The callers have the option of remaining anonymous or they can give their name and contact information. The completed form is sent to our local law enforcement authorities.”
Other components of the initiative include: launching a multilingual public service campaign warning immigrants against fraud, legislation making it a felony to commit immigrant assistance service fraud, assisting local immigrant-serving, non-profit agencies become federally accredited to provide certain immigration services by expanding free immigration law training, and strengthening enforcement against the unauthorized practice of immigration law by enhancing coordination between the attorney general, district attorneys’ offices, local government consumer affairs departments and federal agencies through complaint referrals.
The Federal Trade Commission states that more than 890 complaints of immigration service fraud were lodged last year.
“Now that we have this campaign and people are seeing it on the subways and in newspapers, we have over 200 calls a month,” Ms. Diaz Taveras said. “And folks are calling about attorneys who have taken their money, who have not provided services, notarios that they have gone to that have given incorrect information. And they asking how can they be helped and what recourse do they have?”
Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, D-Bronx, chair of the State Assembly Taskforce on New Americans, was instrumental in drafting the bill and bringing it to the governor’s desk. He said the initiative is important to ensuring New York State is ready to protect its immigrant community as immigration reform moves forward at the federal level.
“I’ve been in office five years now and from day one this was one of my major pieces of legislation…And I’m really grateful that we were able to do this in a timely fashion, given that we know immigration reform is coming,” he told CNY. “Whether it happens before this administration is done or in the next administration, we know it’s going to happen. And we want to make sure the State of New York is prepared to protect the interests of those that are going to come out of the shadows, seeking that path to citizenship.”
