Prof. Ana Pottratz Acosta Interviewed by WCCO News About Fraud Case of Immigrants Offered Legal Services

Professor Ana Pottratz Acosta, visiting assistant professor and director of the the Immigration & Human Rights Clinic of the James H. Binger Center for New Americans, was interviewed by WCCO News about a case in which three Minnesotans are accused in a $500,000 scheme to defraud immigrants by offering them legal services, including paths to citizenship, that were never provided. Charging documents filed this week say that between January 2023 and November 2025, the ringleader targeted at least 25 immigrants she met at Twin Cities churches. In many instances she offered to provide them legal assistance through a fake lawyer in exchange for cash payments. Prof. Pottratz Acosta said, “This particular scenario is something that is known within immigrant and immigration lawyer circles as something called notario fraud. The problem is that there are a lot of people who are very desperate to come up with a solution that would allow them to gain legal status in the United States."