Immigrants Vulnerable to Scams, Advocates Warn

Advocate for illegal immigrants warn that in light of the new immigration deportation policies they could become the target of scams promising to obtain work visas.

On June 15^th, President Obama announced his administration would stop deporting young immigrants that met certain criteria, but the exact details of have yet to emerge. It may take months for U.S. Citizenship and immigration Services to implement the deferred action plan.

Even so scammers are out there preying on these vulnerable immigrants promising to get them legal documents for a price. Many of these scam artists don’t have the legal expertise of an immigration attorney, and will take a person’s money without doing anything to get them a work or student visa.

The new policy, which mirrors the DREAM Act, will allow over a million young people to get a visa which can set them on the path to naturalization. But USCIS will need some time to work out  which documents these young people will be required to produce in order to prove when they entered the country and what steps they will take to prove the validity of those documents.

In the meantime, advocates and immigration lawyers warn that scammers will pop up offering to get undocumented immigrants the visas they need to avoid deportation. Those who advocate for immigrants are sending out flyers to immigrant communities warning them that they are vulnerable to exploitation.

Any immigrants who want to be legally recognized are sure to avoid a scam if they retain an immigration attorney to work on their case.