Immigration consultant took thousands from citizenship applicants in scams, CA cops say

An immigration consultant in San Jose is accused of defrauding clients who sought her help in submitting applications to the government, authorities said.

Jessica Sanchez, 36, faces charges of grand theft, theft by false pretenses and violations of the immigration consultant act, a news release from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said.

Detectives with the Notario Fraud Unit within the sheriff’s office said they first became aware of Sanchez in July 2021, when a resident of Santa Clara County told them they had been defrauded, the release said.

Detectives later learned about a couple who paid Sanchez about $5,000 to complete a citizenship and visa application. Over the course of four years Sanchez told her clients that she had submitted their applications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the release said.

But Sanchez never submitted those applications to USCIS — instead, she kept her clients’ money and did not refund them, detectives said.

Julieann Escobar told KTVU that she and her husband were among the people defrauded, leaving them unable to visit dying relatives in Mexico.

“I get so frustrated when I think about that, because right away I think about my brother-in-law and how I wasn’t able to meet him because she was playing games,” she told the outlet.

Escobar told KTVU that she feels Sanchez was taking advantage of Latino clients.

“For her to be doing that to people, you know, her own kind, that’s wrong,” she said. “For somebody to do that, I believe in karma.”

Detectives later interviewed Sanchez and confirmed that she never submitted any applications for her clients or maintained any accounting for her clients’ payments. She said she was a California Secretary of State bonded immigration consultant and displayed an expired bond certificate at her office, but was not presently authorized to work as an immigration consultant, the release said.

The state previously tried to stop Sanchez, issuing her a cease and desist notice in 2018, the release said.

Sanchez’s potential victims are currently working with immigration lawyers to attain citizenship, the release said.

In California, immigration consultants are required to obtain a $100,000 bond from a corporate surety and file a copy of that bond with the Secretary of State’s office. They must also pass a background check conducted by the state, according to the California Secretary of State’s website.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the case.

This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Immigration consultant took thousands from citizenship applicants in scams, CA cops say."