Posted on 11/18/2016 7:02:05 PM PST by nickcarraway
James Lopez may have charged an estimated 1,000 clients $1,200 each, officials say.
Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies have arrested a man accused of running a fraudulent immigration assistance service that duped an estimated 1,000 people, who were seeking help, but instead lost money and possibly their chance to stay in the United States.
Neighbors in a Campbell business park on La Pradera Drive said that until recently the office of James Lopez was constantly filled with clients. But that stopped when investigators arrested the disbarred attorney, who was operating an illegal consulting service without state approval, several weeks ago.
“It appeared he was also forging documents, just based on the evidence,” said Lt. Elbert Rivera, a fraud unit leader with the sheriff’s office.
The business advertised itself as a place to help immigrants, but Lopez may have actually been targeting them, investigators believe. He is suspected of proving improper service to about 1,000 clients, charging each of them about $1,200, they said.
“He was charging fees for services in regards to immigration paperwork … which don't require any fees,” Rivera said.
Community activists believe immigrants are so scared after Donald Trump was elected president that it’s made them more vulnerable to scams.
"They all relate to racism,” said Cesar Juarez, an ethnic studies teacher at Downtown College Prep in San Jose.
Juarez said the Nov. 8 election has immigrants desperately searching for aid, all while trying to stay in the shadows.
“I hear from my students, ‘Mr. Juarez, what's going to happen to my parents if Trump gets elected? They're undocumented,’” Juarez said. “So they're seeking support. They're seeking services."
Juarez said immigrant families should seek businesses with approval from the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
“That's my biggest fear – that my community will be victims of fraud, and victims of bad advice,” Juarez admitted.
The sheriff's office said it announced the arrest on Friday because officials are hoping more of Lopez’s clients will come forward. Lopez, meanwhile, is expected to be in court on Nov. 28, where he will be held accountable for several felony charges, including forgery, grand theft and practicing law without a license.
Didn’t we see this at the being of the movie Men In Black????
ETHNIC STUDIES is college prep..?!
>_<
Waste your time preparing to then advance and waste MORE time.
Very nice.
“Community activists believe immigrants are so scared after Donald Trump was elected president that it’s made them more vulnerable to scams.”
Handa says that like it’s a bad thing! I hope all of them are so scared they self-deport. It will be fun to see Peninsula Liberals mowing their own lawns.
Trump hadn’t been elected yet when the guy extorted his fellow Mexican customers.
Immigrants don’t have anything to worry about, they complied with the laws.
Illegal aliens better get home now, once deported, they will be barred for 10 years.
Once they enter the country illegally, they must return home to have any hope of coming back, there is no way to become an immigrant when one is an illegal alien.
There is no such thing as an undocumented immigrant.
To be an immigrant one must have applied in their home country and gotten a green card.
Fraudulently documented foreigner is more accurate if you don’t want to call them what they are, illegal aliens.
Now they are all,afraid of deportation because of Trump. This guy has been real busy the past ten days, serving 100 clients per day!
Or were his clients also scared when Hitlery was ahead for the past year?
Pinning this on Trump — what a joke.
You can’t cheat an honest man.
I know the right thing is to feel sorry for the duped, but in this case I just....don’t.
So, have we deported his client list? No, didn’t think so.
Better yet, a return to workfare and 94 million Americans getting back on a job.
You know what, that’s absolutely true.
I don’t understand the liberal mindset that continues to support what amounts to human trafficking and illegal immigration. They are hanging this on Trump and he isn’t even in office yet!
Con them out of all their money before they send it back home.
Correct - I call them “invaders”.....
Disgusting how the media lumps legal immigrants with rapists, murderers, and criminals - under the same catch-all word. The MSM is corrupt and I sincerely hope they become irrelevant soon.
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