City Council Set To Crack Down On 'Immigration Experts' Taking Advantage Of Immigrants
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Recent arrivals in the United States are being cheated out of thousands of dollars, and the City Council is taking action.
As WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported, 37 percent of the population of New York City is composed of immigrants. City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said unscrupulous so-called "immigration experts" are ripping off the vulnerable – charging for legal advice they are unqualified to give.
Mark-Viverito said a City Council measure will crack down.
"Providers of immigration assisted services would be prohibited from offering and providing services that should only be provided by an attorney," she said, "and then making statements that could lead an individual to believe that the provider is an attorney or authorized to give legal advice."
Mark-Viverito said some of the immigrants' confusion stems from the fact that in many Latin American countries, a notorio must be an attorney, while in the U.S. there is no such requirement to be a notary public