Immigrants' Aid . . . For a Price

By: Paul F. CuadrosA for-profit immigration service in Chicago has used its political clout to win favorable treatment from the public officials who regulate it.

Private Immigration Agency Inc., 4142 W. 26th St., has some powerful friends, including A.D. Moyer, district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and former U.S. Attorney Anton R. Valukas, who represents the company.

Moyer met with city Consumer Services Commissioner Caroline Shoenberger to lobby against a proposed city ordinance that would restrict the company's business. And Valukas may have persuaded Cook County State's Attorney Jack O'Malley to withdraw from a consumer fraud lawsuit against the company.

"Many people think it's the INS from downtown," said Rosemary Castresana, a former employee. "They think it's a strong agency because Moyer is with them."

The Reporter found:

• On May 1, the state's attorney withdrew from the lawsuit against Private Immigration Agency after Valukas phoned O'Malley on behalf of the company and met with the prosecutors handling the case.

• In September 1991, Valukas and Moyer tried to pressure Shoenberger to make the agency the only for-profit company exempted from a proposed city ordinance that would regulate immigration services and set fees.

• In 1987, the INS also designated the agency as the only for-profit company nationwide to process amnesty applications. And in Chicago, Moyer gave the firm special permission to perform medical examinations for applicants.

• In August, Moyer authorized the firm to help the INS process applications for green cards. PIA charges immigrants $35 for the service, even though free applications are available through an INS toll-free number.

Moyer denied he favors PIA over the other organizations. "They're treated the same," he said.

Amnesty Act
Private Immigration Agency was founded in 1966 by John Lasseville, a Cuban immigrant. Twenty years later he saw an opportunity to expand his business. In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, granting amnesty to undocumented immigrants who had been in the United States since Jan. 1, 1982. Those seeking amnesty had to apply between May 4, 1987 and May 5, 1988, or risk deportation.

The INS designated agencies to help the millions of applicants prepare their documents. Most were non-profits.

PIA was the only national, for-profit company chosen. The INS advanced the company $56,250 for the applications it expected to complete, INS records show.

Lasseville opened branch offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Houston, as well as in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood. The sign outside the Chicago office read: "Private Immigration Agency-Amnestia-Officially designated by the Department of Immigration." But the sign remained up long after amnesty expired.

In Chicago, Moyer designated PIA the only non-medical facility to perform required medical exams. The company chose Dr. Frank Yanez, 74, whose Little Village office is two blocks away. Immigrants are charged $95 per exam, company records show.

During the yearlong amnesty period, PIA completed 35,000 applications nationwide at $70 per application, including 11,500 in Chicago, Moyer said. The company earned about $6.3 million in fees, medical exams and INS payments.

From 1988 to 1989, during the second phase of the amnesty program, applicants took required English proficiency exams. Local non-profits, like Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, charged little or nothing for the services. PIA charged $10 per test and $400 for the combined English and civics courses, Valukas said.

No Lawyers
On June 14, 1989, Omar A. Martinez, 19, went to PIA for help. The Salvadoran said he paid the agency $100 to help him apply for asylum. The application form included a series of questions, including "If stateless, how did you become stateless?" An agency clerk helped Martinez respond, "Because of the stateless of my country."

He answered the same way to five other questions, including: "Why did you obtain a U.S. visa? Was exit permission required to leave your country? Would you return to your home country?"

"The application PIA produced for Mr. Martinez is completely inadequate," said Jeffrey H. Bergman, Martinez' attorney. The answers didn't make sense, he said. And PIA didn't tell Martinez he would be deported if his application was denied, Bergman added.

"The service PIA provides is to translate their answers, which are then set forth on the form," Valukas said.

In April 1991, attorneys from Catholic Charities and the Legal Assistance Foundation sued the firm in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of four plaintiffs for deceptive advertising and practicing immigration law without licensed attorneys. PIA clerks acted as attorneys, gave advice on filling out INS forms and left two of them facing deportation, the suit alleges.

"Filling out a form doesn't constitute the practice of law," Valukas said. "These are the same types of forms that attorneys charge fees for. It is my belief that attorneys charge more."

PIA now has an attorney to assist employees, Valukas said.

Cook County prosecutors were investigating PIA six months before they joined the case, they said.

On July 29, the Illinois State Bar Association, American Immigration Lawyers Association and Latin American Bar Association also joined the case.

"Cost is not an issue," said Dennis A. Rendleman, the state bar's general counsel. "It's a matter of who can best protect the public and best provide the services."

On Aug. 23, 1991, Assistant State's Attorney Raymond Threlkeld wrote INS Director Moyer requesting consumer complaints against the company. Moyer never responded. Threlkeld wrote two more letters to Moyer; both went unanswered. Robert F. Lyons, who took over for Threlkeld, told Legal Assistance Foundation attorney Alan A. Alop in February that "they were definitely going to get involved and that he wanted to talk with my plaintiffs," Alop said.

On March 13, O'Malley's office joined the lawsuit, charging PIA with consumer fraud and deceptive advertising. O'Malley asked Judge Lester D. Foreman for an injunction to shut the business down.

But on May 11, prosecutors withdrew from the case. Lyons and Mary Ellen Cagney, chief of the state's attorney's civil division, said that PIA had changed its practices.

Prosecutors withdrew after Valukas called O'Malley to discuss the case. Valukas, a former U.S. Attorney in Chicago, was one of several powerful Illinois Republicans who backed O'Malley when he announced his candidacy for state's attorney on Jan. 7, 1990. It was O'Malley's first run for public office. In 1990, Valukas contributed $1,000 to O'Malley's election campaign.

O'Malley admits that Valukas called him about the case, but denies any influence. "He said he wanted to settle the case," O'Malley said. "I put him in touch with Mary Ellen Cagney. I had about a 30 second conversation with him."

Valukas said: "I presented my client's side of the case. That's what my job is. I'm an attorney." Assistant State's Attorney Lyons said he withdrew because the Legal Assistance Foundation could not produce additional plaintiffs who could show "an ongoing wrong," he said.

But Alop said he "begged" prosecutors to wait for more plaintiffs. Many former PIA clients are afraid to come forward because they believe the company is tied to the INS, he said.

Lyons said PIA had removed the sign that referred to the INS when he visited the company in April or May. He also said the firm had stopped running deceptive television commercials.

Lyons said prosecutors met with Valukas three times but that no deals were struck. "It was either they changed to meet our standards or we stayed in the lawsuit to get them to change," he said. Cagney adds that they "accomplished everything if not more than we could have done through the court system."

But the prosecutors admit they withdrew without any formal agreement with PIA. "Any bad actor is just going to say 'we changed that.'

"But they might go back to their old ways the next day," Alop said. "Where are their assurances? They're basing this on the sweet words of Mr. Valukas."

Deportation
In January 1990, Private Immigration Agency called Filiberto Cardona and offered to help his wife, Rosa, through a new federal legalization program. Instead, Rosa almost got deported.

"I endured weeks without going outside," said Rosa Cardona, who was in the country without documents. "The majority of the people around here are undocumented. They are afraid."

The Cardonas paid PIA $75 to prepare Rosa's application for the Family Unity program, which offers temporary amnesty to qualified relatives of legalized aliens. The Cardonas said they had confidence in the firm because its TV commercials made them think "PIA was a part of the government," Filiberto Cardona said.

On Oct. 11, 1990, the INS notified Rosa that she was ineligible for the program and began deportation proceedings against her.

When Filiberto went to the company to complain, Rosa stayed at home. "She didn't want to accompany me because she was afraid the INS was going to get her right there," he said.

In January 1991, PIA told Rosa she was eligible for a new program. She paid $80 for another application. But the firm didn't tell her the program wouldn't begin until October 1991. Rosa's application was rejected and she was again threatened with deportation. She is one of the plaintiffs in the suit against PIA.

In September 1990, a task force of city officials and community groups proposed an ordinance that would set fees for immigration services and regulate advertising.

The Immigration Assistance Ordinance, was introduced in December 1990 by Ald. Jesus Garcia (22nd).

Nine days before the Chicago City Council voted on the measure, Valukas wrote to Consumer Services Commissioner Shoenberger to complain that the ordinance would "put PIA out of business in Chicago." He also said immigration attorneys and Catholic Charities were trying to eliminate their competition.

Valukas asked Shoenberger to either exempt the company from the ordinance or apply the law to the non-profits.

Three days later, Shoenberger arranged to meet with Valukas. She said she was surprised when he showed up with INS Director Moyer. The two men argued on behalf of Private Immigration Agency.

"It was a contentious meeting," Shoenberger said. "They lobbied to abandon the ordinance altogether. It's unusual for someone from the federal government to be talking about a private company."

When Valukas threatened to sue for discrimination, Shoenberger agreed to include non-profits in the ordinance.

"We can't have legislation which limits the organizations and puts them out of business," Moyer told the Reporter. "Immigrants are going to get caught in the trap of expensive, high-priced attorneys, and that's what they want."

On the day before the vote, Moyer defended PIA in a letter to the City Council: "I have personally reviewed the work performed by PIA and other organizations and can attest to the high quality of their work product."

PIA has prepared thousands of amnesty applications with few errors, Moyer wrote. The Council passed the ordinance, which took effect Jan. 1, and left it to Shoenberger to set fee limits. After repeated inquiries by the Reporter, Shoenberger said she will propose fee caps shortly.

When state Sen. Judy Baar Topinka (R-North Riverside) began to work on a similar law, she also got a call from Moyer.

The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Miguel del Valle (D-Chicago), requires immigration businesses to register with the Illinois Attorney General and also provides for civil penalties of up to $50,000.

Moyer told her he had problems with the bill, Topinka said, and she asked him to put his complaints in writing. She never heard from him again, she said.

Valukas also wrote Gov. Edgar to oppose the bill, an Edgar spokesman said. Edgar signed the big Sept. 25.

Blood Test
In May 1987, the INS approved Private Immigration Agency to perform medical exams of immigrants.

Antonio Calles, an assistant manager at the company, testified that he draws blood from immigrants, even though he never finished high school, court records show.

"You don't have to be a genius to draw blood," said Dr. Frank Yanez, PIA's physician. Calles was trained at St. Anthony's Hospital two years ago for "a couple of weeks," he said.

"There's much more to it than just drawing blood," said Sharon Jones, executive director of the National Phlebotomy Association Inc. in Washington, D.C. "You have to know what to do, how to do it, what to do if something goes wrong." The association recommends six to eight months of training, she said.

In the lawsuit against PIA, Legal Assistance Foundation lawyers said they expect a former employee to testify that blood samples were stored in a refrigerator along with employees' lunches and drinks.

Yanez told the Reporter he "does not know" where workers store the samples.

Valukas would not provide specific details about the training. "No question has ever been raised by the (INS) concerning PIA's blood drawing and blood product disposal procedures," he said.

The Chicago INS office will re-certify all of its authorized doctors by Oct. 30, Moyer said. The INS has no policy to re-examine its doctors, said Duke Austin, an INS spokesman in Washington, D.C.

On Aug. 1, the INS began requiring all immigrants to exchange their old green cards for new ones, and offered a toll-free number for applicants to request the free form and other information. Moyer also enlisted charitable organizations for the program, and made Private Immigration Agency the only for-profit company to offer the applications. PIA charges $35 for helping applicants fill out the form.

The INS has no policy on assisting companies, said Veme Jervis, an INS spokesman in Washington D.C. "Our district directors have a lot of discretion," he said.

But immigration lawyers and activists said Moyer's wide authority allows him to favor PIA over charitable groups.

"This relationship undermines the efforts of community organizations to provide quality legal services to immigrants," said David Marzahl, executive director of the Chicago Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Protection, a group of 40 community and service organizations.

Judge Lester D. Foreman will soon decide whether to convert the case against Private Immigration Agency into a class action lawsuit and open the door to other immigrants who think they have been defrauded by PIA. Said Filiberto Cardona: Many immigrants "are afraid to sue, to even think about it, because they think, like we did, that they are a part of the government."

Interns Edie Rubinowitz and Alan Jacobs helped research this article.