23351: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-N.Y. probes local agency over work, amnesty help (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Thu, Oct. 07, 2004


LAUDERDALE LAKES | IMMIGRATION
N.Y. probes local agency over work, amnesty help
The Haitian-American Community Help Organization charged high prices for
work permits and other paperwork, and delivered nothing, according to
complaints received by authorities.
BY DARRAN SIMON
dsimon@herald.com

Two New York agencies are investigating whether a Lauderdale Lakes nonprofit
organization is charging dozens of immigrants exorbitant rates for work
permits and promising amnesty assistance.

About 20 illegal immigrants living in New York complained last week to the
Office of Citizenship Services in New York Gov. George Pataki's office that
they paid $450 to the Haitian-American Community Help Organization of South
Florida (HACHO) for work permits, but received nothing.

They have contacted the office of Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, as
well as immigration officials in Vermont, said Jon Sorensen, a spokesman for
the New York State Consumer Protection Board.

The immigrants said they filled out forms in the past month. Most also
traveled to Florida, believing there was an amnesty program or other special
assistance available here, New York officials said.

''There is no special program or amnesty available in any one state,'' Luz
Tavarez-Salazar, director of Pataki's Citizenship Unit, said in a press
release.

A joint investigation was launched Wednesday by Pataki's office and the New
York State Consumer Protection Board. They said hundreds of people, many
from New York, arrive daily at the organization's office in a strip shopping
center at 4693 N. State Road 7 in Lauderdale Lakes, seeking work permits.

Work permits are issued by the federal government only to legal immigrants
or students. Applications are available online at the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services website. The process costs $175, according to the
website. It may take weeks or months for a permit to be issued, depending on
the background checks that are made.

Gomez Accime, HACHO's executive director, and Lucy L. Joachin Orlando, its
counseling and community advocate, declined to comment Wednesday.

The organization has helped people get food, money, driver's licenses and
green cards, said Al Bonnie, who founded the group in 1998 and is its
president.

''That's why I started it, to help,'' he said.

Bonnie said his group started helping people get work permits and Social
Security cards in August, but hurricanes closed the offices for several
weekends last month, slowing the process.

''We don't do anything illegal, and if somebody is complaining we didn't
serve them right, we will take care of it, put them on top of the list,'' he
said.

New York officials said people were traveling from New York based on rumors
that they might get special immigration services through HACHO.

Bonnie said his group did not promise amnesty or any kind of special
immigration assistance.

Wednesday afternoon, about 60 people were waiting outside the organization's
offices. Inside, 20 or so sat in a room. One, a 38-year-old native of
Dominica who did not want her name used, flew to Florida from New York on
Monday after a friend told her she could get a Social Security card and work
permit.

''My friend told me it's easier down here,'' said the Bronx resident, whose
application for legal documents was pending. Her plane leaves West Palm
Beach today, and she is expected back at her child-care job on Long Island.

''I have to stay until I get that sorted out,'' said the woman, who had been
waiting in line most of the day.

The New York Citizenship Unit asked anyone with information about HACHO to
call 212-961-8261.

Herald staff writer Alfonso Chardy contributed to this report.

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