Immigrants Warned of Fraudulent US Immigration Consultants

Illegal immigrants in United States (US) are being cautioned by the Immigration department and immigration advocates to be careful of fake immigration agents while applying for work papers under the new Federal Immigration policy. The immigrants were also asked to wait for some time for information and guideline on the whole process before applying.

Illegal immigrants in the US were permitted to apply for work papers under President Barack Obama’s new immigration policy shift. But the situation and conditions, as to the new policy shift, in the Department of Homeland Security demand months of time to properly implement and manage such a process.

After the policy shift, such issues have been spreading throughout the country and are causing disruptions in immigrant communities. Certain groups, who have been reaching out to Hispanic neighborhoods to warn them of such scams are hard at work. These groups also include the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Casa de Maryland. They have been warning the communities to be on a look out for scammers who pose as immigration lawyers or agents and, for a certain fee, offer to help the immigrants through the process.

The policy permits Illegal immigrants, who arrived in America at or before the age of 16 and have stayed in the country for past five years, to apply for two years deferred deportation. They mustn’t have any criminal record to be eligible for this policy and must be enrolled in school, must have a high school diploma to have served in the US Military.

According to some Immigration advocates, more than 30,000 would have been eligible under a similar act called DREAM act that the Congress had rejected in 2010. Currently up to 1.4 million can avail the benefit of the new policy.

Where the immigrants are praising President Obama’s policy shift, the Republicans are criticizing it. One Republican, Roscoe F. Bartlett says that such policies would only encourage more illegal immigrants. Republican Law makers say that such initiative by the President is just a publicity stunt to pool in votes from the Hispanic community, which is the largest immigrant community in America particularly in the states of Florida, Nevada and Virginia. Another Republican, Mitt Romney, and Presidential candidate has shown inconclusive opinions regarding the issue.

Such sudden policy shift has rendered the US Citizenship and Immigration service, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, in frenzy. They are trying to formulate proper guidelines for the implementation of the provisions of President Obama’s policy. They have numerous questions facing them. Questions like the nature of documentation required to prove when any immigrant had entered the country. The process which the agency needs to adopt to properly scrutinize the applications is also a major issue. The confidentiality of the received documents is also a point of concern, as whether to keep them all confidential or handle particular cases to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Doris Meissner, of the Immigration Policy Center, said, “It’s just a very short planning period to put the capabilities into place and to get the information out and to get people to understand what’s going to be required.” She said, “There will be all kinds of misinformation, and there will be people who are trying to exploit this.” She also advised the immigrants who are willing to apply to sit tight and wait.

Officials and other immigration advocates are encouraging people to start preparing their papers containing qualification diplomas and certificates and any other documentation that might be deemed a requirement in the process. They are also emphasizing on people to abstain from hiring any agent at this moment who might make them believe that he can help them file their documents.

Tags: Barack Obama, Illegal migrants, Immigration, new US immigration policy, United States, United States of America, US Immigration, USS Immigration Policy, Young illegal migrants