New York Pursues Initiative to Protect Illegal Immigrants from Fraud

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is worried that illegal immigrants will become the victims of fraud or unscrupulous practices and has introduced an initiative to protect them from scam artists who will exploit their undocumented status.

After President Obama announced that he would no longer deport young people under the age of thirty who attended an American school or serve in the military, immigration activist were elated, but this also makes immigrants vulnerable to people who want to exploit them for a profit.

“I think there is going to be a great deal of fraud, and these young people are going to need a great deal of help responding with the kinds of documents the federal government is going to require of them,’ said Cesar Perales, New York’s Secretary of State, “It became clear to us that this was going to be a golden opportunity

 These fraudsters take money and promise to get an immigrant the temporary work visas or green card they need to be legal. But they collect the money and do nothing to help or even worse skirt the law to obtain the documents. Since immigrants speak English as a second language, they are easily taken advantage off.

Gov. Cuomo’s initiative will provide $600,000 for a fund which will pay for immigration attorneys who will work with agencies across the state to help illegal immigrant get legal documents they need to avoid deportation.

The plan also calls for a multilingual outreach program to warn about fraud and inform immigrants of their rights under the deferred action policy. The state also plans to expand its immigration service hotlines to include information about deferred action and refer callers to service providers who can help them with their applications.

The Obama administration has yet to state which documents young immigrants will be required to produce to prove their residency. The details could come as early as August 1st. The USCIS will begin accepting deferred action applications on August 15^th.