Making noncitizens' rights real: Evidence from immigration scam complaints

Abstract

Noncitizens seeking to make sense of US immigration systems encounter a labyrinth of information and deception. This paper is the first national study of scams targeting noncitizens seeking immigration legal services. I construct a county-year database (N = 3,135 over a fouryear time period, 2011-2014) across secondary data sources to analyze the correlates of immigration scam complaints submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). I find that welcoming counties have more immigration scam complaints, and counties with exclusionary contexts tend to have fewer complaints. The results do not suggest that scams are more prevalent in welcoming contexts, because the actual number of scams is unknown. Instead, we can conclude that noncitizens tend to come forward to report immigration scams in welcoming contexts of reception, even after accounting for exclusionary policies. A robust safety net proved the most reliable predictor of immigration scams reported to the FTC. The concentration of immigration attorneys, legal aid services, and language access were also positively associated with the number of FTC scam reports. Taken together, these results suggest that immigrantserving capacity and access to key services support noncitizens who report immigration scams, while hostility toward immigrants may deter them from exercising those same rights.

DACA legal services: One federal policy, different local implementation approaches

“…In all, one-on-one legal services are an important tool typically discussed as a predatory component of immigrant legal services provision (Pedroza, 2022). In fact, one-on-one attorney assistance is the bedrock of immigration legal services, but while in Houston it is the most accessible (though expensive) option, it is only one of many legal services options in New York City and San Francisco.…”

“…Additionally, immigrant‐serving legal aid organizations contend with language barriers and insufficient staffing, so that nonprofit legal aid capacity can notably vary by place (Kerwin & Millet, 2022). The uneven supply of accessible legal services in turn has contributed to the proliferation of unscrupulous legal services providers, such as notarios , who step in especially where more reputable providers are few (Pedroza, 2022).…”