Committees on Immigration and Consumer Affairs consider regulating immigration assistance services

he City Council’s Committees on Immigration and Consumer Affairs, chaired respectively by Council Members Kendall Stewart and Philip Reed, held a joint hearing to consider Intro. 223, a local law to amend New York City’s administrative code in relation to immigration assistance services.

The Committees heard from the City Administration, advocates and other concerned individuals representing diverse immigrant communities, including the Caribbean, Latino and Asian communities. All of them presented vivid testimony illustrating the urgent need for legislation prohibiting the fraudulent practices of many immigration agencies. For example, Kim Thuy Seelinger, a staff attorney at the Lutheran Family & Community Services Immigration Program, said the most common abuses she sees are:

1) People misrepresenting themselves to appear as though they have a license to practice immigration law when they don’t. 2) Charging exorbitant fees for undefined services so that at each step of the process they can demand more money and cancel their service obligations if the client is unable or unwilling to pay these unanticipated costs. 3) Ignorance of or misrepresenting the law so that clients are led to believe they are eligible for certain benefits when they aren’t. 4) Misfiling or non-filing of applications. 5) Frivolous, inaccurate, or fraudulent filing for benefits. 6) Agencies disappearing with the money, leaving no indication as to how clients might follow-up with their cases.

Speaker after speaker testified as to immigrant lives hurt or even ruined by the unscrupulous practices of unethical immigration assistance agencies. This included moving testimony by Rev. Robert Fritch from Our Saviour Lutheran Church; Johnny Kline, representing the Community Action Project of Flatbush, East Flatbush and Canarsie, and Msgr. Rollin J. Darbouze, pastor of Holy Innocents R.C. Church in Brooklyn.

Darbouze, who comes from Haiti, spoke of the countless horror stories he’s heard while ministering to the immigrant community of Crown Heights and Flatbush. "During the time of the amnesty, I met a woman that told me how she spent over $10,000 with lawyers and paralegals, losing all the money and living in fear that they will denounce her to the INS," he said. "I have even met people who told me that some so-called religious leaders took large amounts of money from them, promising to help them get their green card, but they ended up losing their money."

Everyone who testified believed strongly that something must be done to protect immigrants from these practices and that a way must be found to punish offenders. Dan Smulian, who represented the New York Immigration Coalition, and most people present said they support Intro. 223 because they consider it "a first and important step" toward doing so.

Meantime, there was no uniform agreement on exactly what should be done. Sayu Bhojwani, Commissioner Of Immigrant Affairs, and Assistant Commissioner Pauline Toole, who serve in The Mayor's Office Of Immigrant Affairs, declared that clearly, the problem addressed in the bill needs prompt attention and action. However, their office doesn’t believe Intro. 223 goes far enough. Bhojwani explained that they think legislation can only be effective if it mandates the licensing of providers. "For immigrants who speak limited English and are unfamiliar with New York City," she stated, "a list of licensed providers is the most effective way of preventing people from falling prey to fraudulent immigration service providers and suffering financial harm and harm to their immigration status."

But Council Member and mayoral candidate Charles Barron made the point that having a list of licensed providers could also lead to disaster. "I’m concerned that unscrupulous people could say, ‘Look, I’m on the list!’ and use it to legitimize themselves so they could do even more harm because an immigrant would think they must be OK," he said.

The question also came up as to whether anyone who is not an attorney should be allowed to provide immigrant services. Norberto Terrazas, Consol in charge of legal protection of Mexican citizens at the Consulate General of Mexico in New York, spoke of the complexity of the Immigration Nationality Act. He stated, "We believe that in order to understand that law, you must have legal training and years of experience in order to best advise people."

Atty. Deborah Notkin First Vice President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, was thinking along the same lines. Council Member Kendall Stewart asked her why couldn’t a person be trained in immigration matters and given a license to do this type of work, like a legal aide? Notkin replied that the problem is, unlike many other areas of law, immigration law changes from week to week, month to month. It is a very complex and problematic area where there has to be a lot of cooperation and constant updating. "I don’t think stand-alone immigration service providers are going to be a good solution even when they’re well meaning," she said.

Yet, everyone agreed that there is an enormous need for affordable and effective immigration services. If there weren’t, it wouldn’t have become such a hotbed of exploitation. But there are also many honorable individuals who see the need and want to fulfill it legitimately. They advocate for the federal, state and city government to train practitioners to provide these services. That point of view and principled intent were represented by a coalition of immigration advocates from East Flatbush, Brooklyn, comprised of Joan and Terrence LaPierre, originally from Trinidad, Dr. Michelle Berry-McMaster, who hails from the Virgin Islands, and Jamaican-born Rev. Terry Lee, the Pastor of Byways and Hedges Youth for Christ Ministries.

Council Member Stewart made it crystal clear that Intro. 223 does not seek to outlaw immigration services provided by people who aren’t lawyers. "What we’re trying to do is to make sure that those people who provide services do so in a way that is beneficial to the clients," he commented. And he explained that the council supports what is known as the Immigrant Opportunities Initiative that will put $5 million back into immigration services, part of which would support and expand the work of non-profit legal service providers.

Council Member Phil Reed said how glad he was to be conducting the hearing and added that "Certainly all of us in the council are becoming more and more aware of the needs of the population of immigrants in our various communities." And he laid it out that Intro. 223 serves several important roles: It a) clearly defines which immigration assistant services can be performed by credible organizations and individuals who are not attorneys; b) flatly prohibits the most egregious conduct they’ve seen in the industry; c) requires that consumers be given a variety of notice of limitations of immigration assistance services; d) establishes significant criminal and civil penalties for misconduct; and e) provides a civil cause of action to anyone harmed by a non-compliant immigration assistance service.

It is expected that, perhaps with some minor amendments arising from the hearing, Intro. 223 will soon be voted out of committee and brought before the full council for a vote.