By Adrian Florido
Hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrant stand to benefit from President Obama’s recent announcement that the government will stop deporting many young people brought to the U.S. as children, and offer them work permits.
But now the dust is settling on the president’s policy, and immigration attorneys are warning people hoping to take advantage of it to proceed with caution, especially in light of reports that unlicensed immigration consultants are emerging in immigrant communities with false promises that they can help people right away.
“We saw, literally within hours of the announcement, that there were websites popping up, radio ads going out,” said Laura Lichter, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “Within a couple of days in the Sunday newspapers, community newspapers, we were seeing advertisements.”