Musings on Immigration

Any immigration lawyer who handles immigration court cases, particularly those involving claims for cancellation of removal, knows the problems caused by badly, and at times fraudulently, prepared tax returns. Most immigrants want to “pay” their taxes. They go to the local notario who instructs them to do things such as claiming “Head of Household,” when in fact they are married and not eligible for this benefit, or has them claim their cousins in Outer Whatzitstan as dependents. Most times, from my experience, these tax returns are filed in ignorance by the immigrant, but with full knowledge by the preparer that the return is fraudulent. But it is the immigrant who pays the price for the fraud in front of the immigration judge. It seems the IRS has finally decided that enough is enough. The IRS announced yesterday that it will begin to regulate all preparers of tax returns. As many as a million of them! Now ask yourself. If the IRS can do this, why is the USCIS NOT doing this? As atto...

Today, New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, turning his attention rather momentarily away from Wall Street, issued more than 50 subpoenas to individuals and businesses in New York City, as part of a widening investigation into immigration fraud by unauthorized practitioners and businesses, including “non-profit” businesses. The New York Times reported today some details of the investigation and provides some short glimpses into the hardships caused by these predators. To Attorney General Cuomo I say thank for doing what Attorney Generals around the United States (and, heck, the Attorney General OF the United States), should have been doing for years. Its about time that the law enforcement authorities took seriously the damage these predators cause on one of the most vulnerable sectors of our society–new immigrants. Even that bastion of the letter of the law following government agency–the USCIS, does not actively investigate and prosecute the very people violating its own regula...