Wednesday, June 17, 2009

New Immigration Scam: Storefront Churches

New York State has aggressively gone after immigration scams and has come up with a source of deceit -- the storefront church. The reverends, usually self-ordained and leading minuscule congregations, offer their services to obtain green cards for congregants -- of course, with cash in the amount of $6,000 to $10,000 to cover costs. The immigrants usually see neither a green card nor their cash back. Since they're here illegally, they have been too afraid to go to authorities. The scam artists even threatens to turn them in if they complain. The New York Times tells of a case in Queens, NY, and how the state is responding. The victims were too believe the word-of-mouth news of a quick fix to their immigration woes and never thought a man of the cloth would lie and cheat them.

KIDS SUE PRESIDENT TO STOP DEPORTATION OF PARENTS
A suit has been entered in federal court to stop deportations of the plaintiffs' parents until there is comprehensive immigration reform. The kids argue that, if the parents are deported, they twould have to go with them. As U.S. citizens, that's depriving them of their constitutional rights. (See Washington Post article.)

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