Churches, Immigrant Agency Form Partnerships

When one immigrant church member after another came to them with stories of losing thousands of dollars to supposed immigration lawyers only to face deportation, pastors at an inner-city church knew more was needed than righteous indignation.

This week Rosewood United Methodist Church, near Melrose and Normandie avenues, sealed an alliance with an East Los Angeles immigrant services agency to open a branch at the church that offers assistance at a fraction of the cost some members were paying.

“We are doing it because we want to respond to a cry from the community,” Associate Pastor Francisco Canas said. “That is the way we can represent Christ today, responding to the needs of the people.”

Increasingly, One Stop Immigration and Educational Center is finding that churches are good places to locate. Another branch opened two months ago at St. Philip Neri Roman Catholic Church in Lynwood. Of the agency’s dozen offices, four are located in churches.

“We’ve been trying to work over the years with religious groups,” One Stop Executive Director Juan Jose Gutierrez said this week. “We think it’s very important to do that because most immigrants we deal with in Asian and Latin communities belong to a congregation.” Clergy at the two churches tell similar tales of immigrants being victimized by unscrupulous individuals who either pose as immigration attorneys or permit the immigrants to assume they are attorneys.

“We’ve been shocked by many stories from the Filipino, Hispanic and Korean members about how their friends and relatives have been preyed upon,” said Canas. “Some have paid thousands of dollars only to end up with nothing when their so-called lawyer disappeared. Other times people have wasted precious time and money because of rumors or bad information.”

Father Joseph G. Sanchez, senior pastor at St. Philip Neri, said immigrants are honest--and often taken advantage of.

“These days I have found they need someone they can trust,” Sanchez said. “Our community complains that some alleged lawyers take their money and never do anything for them. I asked One Stop Immigration to consider opening a branch at our place so they are close by and able to deal with our community’s problems.”

Often, victims hesitate to notify authorities because they fear deportation. Or, they simply “forgive and forget” in a Christian spirit, even though Canas said such an attitude not only is costly but also may encourage the abuse to continue. In addition, the Rev. Richard Bentley Jr., senior pastor at Rosewood, said it usually takes at least two years before an immigrant or any church member opens up to a new pastor.

Many are embarrassed, Bentley said, either because they were victimized or because they may have broken the law themselves.

One Stop provides staff assistance and attorneys at each church to help immigrants with paperwork and legal problems and the churches provide free or reduced-cost rent and office volunteers. Citizenship classes are also offered.

Compared to some of the fees changed by others, Gutierrez said One Stop’s fees are nominal--and even free to those who cannot afford them. For example, the agency charges about $75 to assist in filling out a citizenship application, and less if a group of applicants is involved. By comparison, other businesses or lawyers may charge from $200 to $2,000 for the same service, Gutierrez said.

As U.S. immigration laws become more complex and restrictions become tighter--and as the immigrant population continues to swell, Gutierrez said the problem of fraudulent immigration services may grow more acute.

“Given the state of affairs with our immigration policy, it’s going to push people into more extreme legal circumstances that will probably make them far easier prey for non-lawyers that specialize in victimizing them,” Gutierrez said. “People want a way out and figure if they pay money that will be a solution to their problem. It is a big problem.”