A Washington state attorney is facing lawsuits and a legal ethics investigation over allegations she ran a large-scale immigration fraud scheme that promised legal status to tens of thousands of immigrants but instead allegedly filed fabricated abuse claims without clients’ knowledge.
Attorney Alexandra Lozano, whose firm Luz del Camino Legal shut down this month, is accused by former clients and lawsuits of running a high-volume operation that misled vulnerable immigrants, charged large fees, and exposed some to deportation proceedings. She has permanently surrendered her law license but denies wrongdoing.
Clients say they were promised “miracle” solutions to immigration problems after brief consultations, only to later discover that their applications contained serious allegations they had never authorized or reviewed. Some say their signatures were placed on documents they never saw, and that they were charged tens of thousands of dollars.
In one case, Gabriel Martinez Garcia said his family paid about $30,000 after trusting Lozano’s assurances that she could secure legal status for his mother, who is married to a U.S. citizen. Instead, he says she was later placed in removal proceedings. “We believed in her and then she just let us down,” he said.
Lozano’s attorney, Angelo Calfo, said clients were expected to review and sign their applications and denied wrongdoing. He said Lozano “zealously pursued every lawful option” to help clients, and suggested any inaccuracies were not intentional.
Bar regulators say Lozano’s name appears on more than 53,000 pending immigration cases, though the full scope of any alleged misconduct remains unclear. The Washington State Bar Association previously dismissed an ethics complaint against her in 2023 but has since taken steps to block her from practicing. She is also under investigation by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ fraud unit.
The allegations center on visa programs under the Violence Against Women Act and the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, which allow immigrants to apply for legal status based on abuse or exploitation. These programs use flexible evidentiary standards, which advocates say are necessary to protect victims but can also be vulnerable to abuse.
Former employees and attorneys involved in lawsuits claim Lozano’s firm systematically exaggerated or fabricated abuse claims to fit those programs. One former worker in Colombia said staff were encouraged to “invent more information about the abuse.” Clients, however, were often unaware of what was submitted on their behalf.
Another former employee alleged the firm relied on a large overseas workforce to prepare filings, meaning many clients never directly consulted a licensed U.S. attorney.
Several clients described similar experiences: quick approvals for work permits followed years later by legal trouble when their cases were reviewed more closely. One couple said they signed blank documents and later discovered applications containing false allegations, including claims of domestic abuse they say never occurred.
Advocacy groups say the case highlights broader problems in the immigration system. Federal data shows a sharp rise in applications for humanitarian visas in recent years, with domestic abuse claims more than tripling between 2020 and 2025. Child abuse-based applications increased nearly twelvefold, and trafficking claims rose from about 1,000 to more than 37,000 annually.
The Trump administration has cited those increases as evidence of widespread fraud and has moved to tighten eligibility rules and narrow definitions of abuse. Critics argue the changes risk harming legitimate victims while failing to address misconduct by legal providers.
Immigrant rights attorneys say the focus should be on enforcement against unethical practitioners rather than restricting access for survivors of violence.
Meanwhile, former clients of Lozano’s firm are now trying to reconstruct their immigration cases, often without access to full records. Many are consulting volunteer attorneys and joining lawsuits seeking compensation for fees paid and damages tied to their legal status.
For families like Martinez Garcia’s, the uncertainty remains ongoing. He says he fears his mother could be deported over applications she never saw. “I’m just praying really, really, really hard for her,” he said.
