City attorney David Chiu on Tuesday sued public notary Lenoard Lacayo and Associates for a third time for purportedly continuing to provide immigrants with fraudulent legal advice. This comes despite a 2017 injunction forbidding Lacayo to provide legal services for immigration, and a court order enforcing the injunction five years later after Lacayo ignored the order a first time.
Lacayo and Associates, which is advertised as a tax preparation service at 3330 Mission St. at Virginia Street, has reportedly continued to charge immigrants thousands of dollars for providing legal advice on their immigration status, despite the fact that Lacayo himself does not hold a law degree, nor is he registered as an immigration consultant in the state of California.
Between 2017 and 2022, city attorneys found that, despite an injunction ordering Lacayo to cease charging immigrants for legal advice, nearly 400 applications sent to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services listed Lacayo and Associates’ address.
City attorneys found that, even after 2022, Lacayo and Associates sent 21 checks to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to process applicants.
Clients who have come to Lacayo for help, without knowing that he wasn’t a lawyer, have reported that he has charged immigrants thousands of dollars for legal advice, much of which was entirely unhelpful or put their legal status in jeopardy.
Within the suit is testimony from Katherine Sican, who claims that in December 2022, she sought out Lacayo’s assistance with her asylum case after a friend recommended him. Sican says Lacayo reviewed her paperwork, then recommended an immigration attorney, his associate, Julio Ramos. Lacayo’s injunction bars him from recommending other attorneys.
Sican hired Ramos, who she says failed to prepare her for her immigration court hearing, wouldn’t communicate with her about her immigration appeal, and failed to file a brief in her appeal, leading to Sican being deported.
“For years, [Lacayo] has profited off of vulnerable immigrants, taking their money, while putting them in legal jeopardy,” said Chiu in a statement. “His actions are particularly egregious during a time of mass deportations and heightened fear in our immigrant communities.”
At least 26 immigrants have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since May 27, including young children.
Immigration court has been a hotspot for arrests, and many with unsteady legal status are scrambling for help to stay in the country.
The lawsuit recounts the testimony of another former Lacayo client, Soledad Manrique, who said that when she came to Lacayo and Associates for help with her immigration status in September 2023, she was unaware that Lacayo was not a lawyer.
She said she received advice from both Lacayo and his employee, Uriel Leon Rodriguez, who, at the time, was also not an immigration consultant. Manrique said she was unaware that Rodriguez was not an attorney until he admitted that he could not sign her asylum application after he helped her prepare it. Manrique said she was charged $1,500 for the advice she received.
A city investigator testified that they went undercover, posing as a client in need of legal help for their fiance, whom they told Lacayo had overstayed his visa. The investigator, Angela Davis, says Lacayo told her not to worry, that he had “over 40 years of experience helping people with immigration matters” and had submitted “thousands” of immigration applications.
Lacayo said Davis would be charged $1,965 for an immigration fee, $900 for a medical exam fee, and an additional $3,000 in unspecified charges.
Lacayo has previously claimed to Mission Local that he feels he is targeted by the city attorney’s office because of his ardent support of President Donald Trump, who, in recent weeks, has ordered ICE to make 3,000 arrests a day.
Calls to Lacayo’s office were directed to an inoperable voicemail service, and the office did not respond to emails by publication time.
Why isn’t the DA criminally prosecuting this guy? Unauthorized practice of law is a crime. Fraud obviously is a crime. Civil injunctions are fine but they only go so far.
100% agree. Especially bc he has repeatedly violated court orders. Should be crim charges
Hahaha.
Your city law enforcement is useless.
Suckers.
That will be $1500.00 for my opinion.
Why in the hell hasn’t the City stopped this guy after all this time and repeated violations of court orders.