Partitions shut in on ‘miracle lawyer’ Alexandra Lozano who flew across the West Coast in pink non-public jet

A “miracle lawyer” who constructed a huge immigration agency serving Spanish-speaking folks is dealing with a sweeping federal class-action lawsuit accusing her of fraud.

The go well with, reviewed by The California Submit, was filed June 15 within the US District Court docket for the Western District of Washington by lead plaintiff Maria Guadalupe Diaz Toscano towards Seattle-based immigration legal professional Alexandra Lozano Kennedy and her legislation agency La Luz del Camino Authorized PLLC.

It claims the corporate systematically focused undocumented immigrants with guarantees of authorized aid earlier than steering them into pricey immigration functions that plaintiffs declare had little probability of success.

The proposed class-action go well with might embody hundreds of purchasers throughout the US.

The criticism additionally notes Lozano has publicly claimed to have helped “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds” of immigrants, whereas citing a Washington State disciplinary criticism alleging her signature seems on 53,923 petitions pending with US Citizenship and Immigration Companies, the go well with says.

The criticism accuses the defendants of violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO act, breaching fiduciary duties owed to purchasers and violating Washington’s Shopper Safety Act by means of what plaintiffs characterize as misleading enterprise practices.

“It is a federal class motion introduced in search of complete civil cures for a multi-million-dollar industrialized immigration manufacturing facility disguised as a reliable legislation follow,” the criticism states.

The allegations have surfaced alongside experiences that Lozano amassed a multimillion-dollar actual property portfolio and traveled across the West Coast aboard a pink non-public jet reportedly price about $25 million.

In response to the lawsuit, Lozano marketed herself to immigrants because the “abogada de los milagros,” or “lawyer of miracles,” allegedly utilizing spiritual imagery, together with the Virgen de Guadalupe, to advertise her providers whereas promising immigration “miracles” to determined purchasers.

The criticism alleges the agency relied on what it calls “narrative engineering” to mass-produce humanitarian immigration petitions, together with Violence Towards Girls Act (VAWA) self-petitions and T-visa functions, as an alternative of conducting individualized authorized evaluations.

“The Lozano Agency relied upon a standardized methodology of ‘narrative engineering’ to generate non-viable, structurally fabricated humanitarian claims at scale,” the lawsuit alleges.

Plaintiffs additional declare non-lawyer gross sales workers engaged on fee made substantive authorized determinations whereas attorneys largely dealt with interviews and courtroom appearances.

The lawsuit additionally alleges Lozano permitted staff to make use of a stamp bearing her signature to certify hundreds of immigration filings submitted below penalty of perjury regardless of allegedly by no means personally consulting lots of the purchasers whose functions she licensed.

In response to the criticism, purchasers have been instructed to electronically signal paperwork earlier than reviewing accomplished functions of their native language, permitting their signatures to later be positioned on immigration filings with out their information.

In Diaz Toscano’s case, the lawsuit alleges USCIS decided her signature had been copied onto one utility as an alternative of being personally signed.

The lead plaintiff claims she paid greater than $10,000 in authorized charges, one other $3,000 in authorities submitting charges and an extra $1,200 for a psychological analysis allegedly required by the agency.

The lawsuit additional alleges purchasers routinely paid between $10,000 and $25,000 per case solely to have their functions rejected or denied, doubtlessly jeopardizing future immigration advantages and exposing some to removing proceedings.

“It was a deliberate, profit-driven enterprise that exploited immigrants’ desperation for authorized standing, their restricted English proficiency, and their incapacity to navigate complicated immigration legislation,” the criticism states.

The allegations come as federal immigration officers have issued a public discover directed at Lozano’s former purchasers.

Lozano resigned from the Washington State Bar in lieu of self-discipline on Could 26 and is completely barred from working towards legislation within the state, in response to USCIS.

The company mentioned she closed her legislation agency on June 10, and on June 18 the Board of Immigration Appeals suspended her from working towards earlier than the Division of Homeland Safety, together with USCIS, the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals.

USCIS is urging former purchasers with pending immigration instances to replace their mailing addresses so their functions can proceed to be processed and suggested that candidates might also withdraw pending petitions or request copies of their immigration recordsdata by means of the Freedom of Info Act.

Because the authorized battle unfolds, former purchasers and immigration attorneys say they concern the alleged fallout might have an effect on hundreds of immigrants.

Legal professional Vicente Omar Barraza, who represents dozens of former purchasers, informed ABC30 that Lozano constructed her follow by focusing on “a susceptible market, a fearful market, a determined market” and utilizing spiritual messaging to market what purchasers believed have been reliable pathways to authorized standing.

“She discovered this market, a susceptible market, a fearful market, a determined market, and created a system that reported with spiritual imagery to provide miracles, and now their miracles are turning into nightmares,” Barraza mentioned.

Barraza additionally alleged the agency’s emphasis on VAWA and T-visa instances was financially motivated and claimed a lot of the work on these instances appeared to have been accomplished by groups in Colombia and Mexico.

“I’m sure there’s most likely hundreds of victims in California and possibly a pair hundred if no more within the Fresno space,” Barraza mentioned.

In an announcement offered to ABC30, Lozano’s legal professional disputed the claims, saying: “Alexandra denies the allegations which have been raised by a small variety of the hundreds of people she has represented. She is going to deal with these allegations absolutely in courtroom.”

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