Thousands of immigrants enter the United States each year hoping to fulfill the American dream. Many of them try to obtain citizenship so that they can take part in America's opportunities and, in some cases, escape tyranny. Unfortunately, for some immigrants, their first experience in America is with corrupt individuals who scam them into applying for citizenship documents from inexperienced and false entities. A new measure Assemblyman Alfano has sponsored puts an end to the practice that he terms "a disgrace and embarrassment."

Joining Alfano in sponsoring the bill are Assemblymembers José Peralta (D-Queens), Brian McLaughlin (D-Queens) and Jack McEneny (D-Albany).

The bill regulates immigrant assistance services (people or organizations that provide assistance for money) by making rules stopping scam artists from preying on immigrants. The bill provides civil and criminal penalties for misrepresentation. The bill also defines what immigrant assistant services should be, contracts between customers/businesses, prohibited acts, violations and remedies.

Alfano's bill, which passed the assembly unanimously, protects immigrants seeking their citizenship. "This legislation creates guidelines for immigrant assistance services," said Alfano, adding, "we have to stop illegitimate agencies that fraudulently scam thousands of immigrants out of their money. Immigrants deserve a fair and equal opportunity to achieve the American dream. This is a crucial step in the right direction."

Mabel Johnston, director of a citizenship class through Gateway Youth Outreach (GYO), noted, "having a law like this is critical for people who are trying to become American citizens. GYO, along with our schools, helps educate new families going through the citizenship process. It's great to see a protective measure like this pass."

Currently, immigration assistance is virtually unregulated by the state or localities. At the same time, immigration assistance is becoming increasingly important as both citizens and those who aspire to citizenship status attempt to understand and comply with federal immigration laws and relevant state laws. Stepping into the breach all too often are unscrupulous persons with limited expertise seeking to profit at the expense of immigrants who are very vulnerable to scams. The legislation seeks to regulate immigration assistance and to protect immigrants from those who do not have the expertise in or commitment to that business.

Before Alfano's bill, fraudulent immigrant assistance services frequently scammed immigrants applying for citizenship. Many individuals who work two-to-three jobs would save money for months if not years hoping for one day to save enough money to apply and gain citizenship. Immigrants would give what few thousand dollars they had to these scam artists and would receive unauthorized or faulty application papers with no chance of becoming a US citizen. Many immigrants are not able to financially recover from the scam. Scam artists would overprice and deceive without any laws to stop them from the practice. The Alfano measure would put an end to those horrible occurrences.

Alfano concluded by adding, "Many immigrants enter the United States with little or no money with the desire of improving their way of life. It's unfair for these people to spend what little money they have for unauthorized citizenship papers. Families can't afford making the costly mistake of giving a large percentage of their money to scam artists promoting citizenship. These guidelines will regulate immigration services and protect people."