IMMIGRATION FRAUD AWARENESS AND PREVENTION PROGRAM

• Immigrants in New York State are among our most vulnerable consumers.

• This educational initiative was designed to help immigrants in New York State avoid becoming victims of fraud.

• This program increases awareness of “immigrant consultant scams” among immigrant communities.

THE ISSUEImmigrants are Targeted by Fraud

• The NYS Consumer Protection Board (CPB) and the Governor’s Citizenship Unit (CU) received numerous complaints regarding scams that targeted immigrants attempting to obtain or change their legal status. • Many of these scams involved “immigration consultants” making false promises, or accepting fees for services they never provided.

• Immigrant groups are more easily targeted because of their concentration in ethnic neighborhoods.

This is an example of ads that target immigrants and appear in ethnic newspapers in New York State. This ad suggests that the consultant has access to special programs to help immigrants, but no such government

programs exist.

* Published in “Reklama,” the largest Russian classified in the U.S. in April 2004

UNIQUE HURDLES1. Language Barriers • New immigrants are not familiar with the laws, culture and language, and are therefore extremely vulnerable to becoming victims of fraud.

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• In regard specifically to the Hispanic Community, the word “Notario” is synonymous with the word attorney and lawyer, while in the United States a notary can only witness a signature.

2. Skepticism of Government

• Many immigrants have a fear of the government and/or trouble navigating the system to find a person or agency that can address their needs.

• Immigrants avoid reaching out to government for fear of deportation and/or prosecution.

3. Enforcement

• The CPB nor CU have criminal enforcement power.

• Scam artists often only advertise their services in ethnic newspapers and media, helping to conceal the scam from law enforcement efforts. • Fraudulent immigration consultants are hard to catch because of the quick turnover of store fronts providing fraudulent services 4. Funding

• There was no specific funding from the State for the awareness and prevention program

SOLUTIONS – OVERCOMING THE HURDLES

1. Multilingual Toll Free Hotline

• The New York State Immigration Hotline, administered by Catholic Charities offered assistance in 18 languages and has received more than 68,000 calls since 2004.

• Operators were retrained to deal with and refer fraud questions appropriately.

• Public Service Announcements were developed and run for free by several of our media partners.

• Educational brochure developed and produced in eight languages and distributed at more than three hundred outreach presentations.

• The two agencies combined have 16 staff members doing community outreach in ten languages. These presentations are designed as grassroots training sessions, to help individual immigrants as well as train organizations.

2. Outreach

3. Funding

• Governor George E. Pataki helped secure nearly 2.5 million dollars a year in direct funding to local organizations focused on assisting immigrants.

• Normal operating budgets were used to absorb the costs of brochures and other materials.

5. Legislation

• The Legislature recognized the volume of complaints the Awareness and Prevention Program was trying to address regarding immigration fraud and passed the first state legislation setting enforceable standards for immigration consultants.

4. Partnerships

• Local, State and Federal agencies for education and enforcement purposes.

• Media outlets to inform the public through articles, editorials, interviews, public service announcements and even investigations work in the form of undercover reporting.

• Community based organizations to outreach and gain the trust of the community.

SOLUTIONS – OVERCOMING THE HURDLES

ENFORCEMENT SUCCESSES

1. Fake ID Card Scams

• The CPB received phone calls from Telemundo with concerns regarding a “National Identification Cards" being sold from an office within the Empire State Building.

• The CPB also arranged for a reporter from Telemundo to use undercover cameras in the office of the Empire State Building in order to continue building the case against the scam artists.

• The CPB researched the company and was able to identify the lease holder of the office, the owner of the website, and were able to tie the company to a number of ads which appeared misleading or fraudulent.

a. Empire State Building

b. Association for Immigrant Development (45 West 34th Street)

• During the Investigation of the ID card sale scam at the Empire State building, a second location was identified.

• Arnold Diaz, reporter for WCBS-TV in New York City, included this second company, tin his “Shame on You” consumer report, based on the investigation of the CPB and CU.

• Both of these locations are no longer operating, thanks to the partnership between CU, CPB and the media.

ENFORCEMENT SUCCESSES

2. Immigrant Consultant Fraud

• Complaints to the Citizenship Unit and the Immigration Hotline prompted an investigation which led to the arrest and indictment of a Bronx based immigration scam artist. • The charges included the filing of more than 1300 baseless immigration forms and defrauding immigrants out of more than a million dollars.

b. HACHO• Many illegal immigrants living in New York complained to the CU and the CPB that they paid $450 to the Haitian-American Community Help Organization of South Florida (HACHO) for work permits and social security cards, but received nothing. • Hundreds of people, many from the tri-state area, were arriving daily at the organization's office seeking work permits and social security cards.

• Federal agents arrested the head of a Haitian community organization on charges that the agency made millions by filing fraudulent immigration papers for undocumented immigrants.

a. Jamalali

• These are other examples of how effective the partnership with the media can be. Because of the public attention paid to these CU/CPB investigations through the media, enforcement was a priority

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THE IMMIGRATION FRAUD AWARENESS PROGRAM

CAN BE A MODEL FOR OTHE STATES

New York has the second highest population of immigrants in the nation, second to California, and has the most diverse population.

In order to insure the success of this program in other states the following elements must be in place:

Much of the material developed in New York State could serve as a template for educational materials and the 2004 legislation could serve as a model law for other states.

• Having the support of the administration currently in office;• Building partnerships with community based organizations, media, other elected officials, other government agencies and law enforcement;• Making sure the lead agency’s infrastructure is prepared to handle

non-English speaking callers by having multi-lingual, multi-cultural resources, capabilities and experience