Thousands of immigrants were allegedly defrauded by Washington state attorney Alexandra Lozano, who promised legal status but instead filed fake humanitarian visa applications without their knowledge, according to lawsuits and a bar investigation.
Allegations of Fraud and Misconduct
Lozano's firm, Luz del Camino Legal, closed in June 2026 after the Washington State Bar Association accused her of misconduct. She permanently surrendered her law license rather than face discipline. The bar states her signature appears on more than 53,000 pending cases. Clients allege she created false stories of domestic abuse and human trafficking to obtain visas under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.
“I put the trust of my family with her,” said Gabriel Martinez Garcia, who paid $30,000. He claims Lozano mishandled his mother's case, leading to removal proceedings despite her marriage to a U.S. citizen. “We believed in her and then she just let us down.”
Assembly-Line System and Unlicensed Workers
Lozano is accused of hiring hundreds of employees in Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina to provide legal advice and handle visa applications, bypassing U.S.-licensed attorneys. Former employee Rafael Alvarez stated, “Alexandra was telling us to please invent more information about the abuse because it is not real abuse.” The firm allegedly used an assembly-line system to rush applications, copying client signatures onto documents they never reviewed.
Former chief operating officer Amy Rios testified that the firm earned $1.7 million teaching other law firms its strategies. Recent lawsuits accuse two other firms in Texas and Ohio of replicating Lozano's tactics, which they deny.
Immigrants Unaware of Fabricated Claims
Erika Sanchez and her husband paid Lozano over $32,000 after being told they could adjust their status. They signed blank paper trusting the firm. Sanchez said, “We truly did believe that she was doing the right thing.” They later learned the application contained false claims that her husband's teenage daughter abused him. He is now in removal proceedings.
Nora Murillo Moreno discovered the fake abuse claims the day before her green card interview. “Should I say what really happened, or what is written?” she said. “I knew things didn’t match.”
Rise in Immigration Service Scams
Federal Trade Commission data shows at least 920 immigration service scams reported in 2025, more than the first three years of the Biden administration combined. Experts say this is likely an undercount. The Trump administration last year began overhauling humanitarian programs, citing a surge in applications as evidence of widespread fraud. Domestic abuse claims tripled from nearly 15,000 in 2020 to over 53,000 in 2025; trafficking claims jumped from 1,000 to over 37,000.
In December 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced changes to the domestic violence visa program due to “rampant fraud,” narrowing definitions of abuse and giving greater weight to abusers' evidence. Cecelia Levin of the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors stated, “Making these visas harder for actual abuse victims isn’t the answer. The Trump administration should focus on enforcing the law against attorneys running scams.”
Legal Consequences and Client Fallout
Lozano denies wrongdoing. Her attorney Angelo Calfo stated, “Alexandra’s practice has always been to fight for her clients.” She is under investigation by USCIS's fraud unit. The Washington bar dismissed an earlier ethics complaint in 2023, citing disclaimers, but later blocked her from practicing law. Former clients are now scrambling to retrieve case files. Hundreds attended consultations with volunteer attorneys. Two class-action lawsuits seek compensation for malpractice and recoupment of fees.
Vicente Omar Barraza, an attorney behind the malpractice lawsuit, said many clients still don't know what was written in their applications. Garcia Martinez lives in fear of his mother's deportation: “I’m just praying really, really, really hard for her. None of this should have happened.”
