Colorado Springs-Based Immigration Scam Shut Down

The Denver Post reports that an immigration-help services company named "Simply Done Immigration" has been shut down after a settlement with the Colorado Attorney General's Office.

The company represented its staff members as being immigration document experts despite having no legal or immigration training. The company also inferred an affiliation with the U.S. government. In addition, it sold forms which can be obtained for free from government immigration offices or from the website www.uscis.gov. Simply Done Immigration will also be forced to pay $20,000 in consumer restitution.

The Attorney General's office deserves kudos for going after this company and others like it whose scams prey on the immigrant community and cause untold damage to people's lives when sometimes irreversible mistakes are made on immigration filings.

For more information, click on the below links:

-the Denver Post article on "Simply Done Immigration"

-the list of forms available for free from the official United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website

-the USCIS initiative to combat the unauthorized practice of law.

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USCIS Launches Plan to Crack Down on Illegitimate Immigration Practitioners

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Alejandro Mayorkas has asked the U.S. attorney generals to help him in the fight against individuals and businesses portraying themselves as immigration lawyers, despite not being authorized to practice law. These fake lawyers are sometimes known as “notarios,” and can charge extremely high fees and give fraudulent, inaccurate advice to people seeking immigration benefits. The campaign aims to track down and stop these practitioners, in addition to educating immigrants about how to recognize fake lawyers.

Last May, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers filed a complaint against a Colorado Springs-based business for defrauding hundreds of people who needed immigration assistance. The Colorado Springs Non-Profit Corporation, which also operated under the names Immigration Center, U.S. Immigration Center, ImmigrationHelpLine.org and U.S. Government Helpline, sold forms that are otherwise available for free on www.uscis.gov, and frequently sold the wrong forms. Further, employees of these businesses were paid on commission according to how many sales they made, and they falsely advertised themselves as “document specialists” who supposedly had a special, “inside relationship” with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. However, none of these employees had prior government experience and were not authorized to give legal advice. The company was fined $2.5 million dollars for taking advantage of people who went to them for advice.

If you feel that you have been deceived by a fake immigration lawyer, you can make a complaint with the Colorado attorney general’s office on their website, located here: https://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov/departments/consumer_protection/file_consumer_complaint




To read more about USCIS’ campaign and the case against the Colorado Springs Non-Profit Corporation, please visit:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/09/AR2011030903015.html

http://www.walletpop.com/2010/05/18/colorado-immigrant-aid-business-penalized-2-5-million-in-fraud/

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