New York to Shelter Illegal Immigrants from Fraud

The state of New York is preparing to provide proper guidance and safety measures to the illegal immigrants living in the state from potential immigration consultancy frauds. The state administration has created a special budget of $600,000 for this purpose.

The Governor of New York, Andrew M. Cuomo, has said that illegal immigrants who wish to apply for President Barack Obama’s Deferred Deportation program must remain cautious of any fraudulent immigration consultants who might promise to guide them through the process for hefty fees.

Mr. Cuomo said that the executive order of the President is bound to give rise to opportunities for such fake immigration and law advisors. Mr. Cuomo also said that they tend to lure in innocent people and promise them that they would be properly guided throughout the process in return for considerable sums of money, if proper measures to avoid this are not taken beforehand.

The Governor also appealed to several immigrant communities and lawyers who provide such advisory services to help the immigrants through the process. Mr. Cuomo also insisted to the news media to play its role of spreading guidance among the illegal immigrants to be careful of such miscreants.

The plan so created by Mr. Cuomo’s Administration is also includes the creation of a special task force of immigration lawyers. Such a team is to provide proper guidance and coordination, throughout the state, to such eligible illegal immigrants who intend to avail themselves of this program and wish to acquire some information and help to in the process they need to go through.

The New York State Department has created a budget of $600,000 for the project to cover up the expenses, including that of the legal advisory team of immigration lawyers.

New York’s Secretary of the State, Mr. Cesar A. Perales, said that the possibility of immigration consultancy frauds was evident from the moment the President announced his executive order.

“I think there is going to be a great deal of fraud, and these young people are going to need a great deal of help responding with the kinds of documents the federal government is going to require from them,” Perales said. “It became clear to us that this was going to be a golden opportunity for scammers.”

The state administration also announced that plans for expansion of the New York state’s immigration service hotline are also underway. The immigration service hotline is aimed at providing young illegal immigrants with guidance and procedural details for the application process of President Obama’s program.

The program in question was announced by the United States President Barack Obama in mid-June. The program allows young illegal immigrants who came to the U.S as children, and who currently must be under 30 years of age, to apply for deferred deportation. This will enable them to remain in the country for a further authorized period of two years. The illegal immigrants who are accepted by the program can also apply for a work permit to work in the U.S for that period.

Though the president had announced the program in mid-June, still the U.S Citizenship and immigration Services claims that it is working on the infrastructural plans for the program and it might take some weeks for it to complete. The department has announced that the process of receiving applications from the young illegal immigrants is estimated to commence from August the 15^th.

The governor, Mr. Cuomo, is quite familiar with these circles of fraud as he had served as the New York State’s attorney general. In that period he had his share of cracking down violators like these. He is also responsible for shutting down the American Immigration federation, in 2009, on charges of using unaccredited lawyers and incorrect filing of papers.

All the same, in the wake of president Obama’s executive order, the state administrations are working day and night to avoid such fraudulent occurrences, which can be expected to come from either sides, the fraudulent immigration consultants or ineligible illegal immigrants.

Tags: Andrew M. Cuomo, Deferred Deportation Program, Illegal immigrants, Immigration, Mr. Cesar A. Perales, New York, New York State Department, President Barack Obama, United States, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, US Immigration