Recently, the world-renowned television channel ABC-affiliated Channel 7 broadcasted a story about the alleged fraudulent activities of a Bangladeshi immigration attorney in New York. Just like ABC, other reputable news outlets have also covered this issue and broadcasted interviews with victims. According to the media report, the immigration attorney took millions of dollars from thousands of victims in the name of immigration to the United States. The victims alleged that the attorney opened several offices in the posh areas in Bangladesh and various cities in the United States and lured people with advertisements just like snake oil sellers.
This incident is the first time we have seen a report about the fraudulent activity of a Bangladeshi immigration attorney in the U.S. media. However, during our nearly two decades in America, we have heard numerous stories of immigration fraud perpetrated by so-called attorneys. Regrettably, numerous highly educated individuals have fallen prey to these fraudulent immigration attorneys. We strongly believe that American embassies across the world could play a strong and effective role in saving people from this type of fraudulent activity by scam immigration attorneys.
Scammers have victimised individuals worldwide for a variety of reasons. Many people around the world aspire to live in the United States. As stated by Secretary of State, Mr. Marco Rubio, many people would eagerly migrate to the United States if given the opportunity. There are hundreds of reasons to migrate to the United States, but we would like to mention a few of these here. Based on our experience living in the U.S. for nearly two decades and as Bangladeshi Americans, we can testify that despite all criticisms, America is one of the strongest democratic countries where people could be successful in their careers based on merit and quality. That means not your socio-cultural backgrounds but only your hard work and talents will determine your success. These may seem like basic rights, but sadly, many people in various countries do not have the luxury of enjoying them.
Put aside the luxurious lifestyle, cutting-edge technology, health care, education, or scientific development compared to the many dysfunctional third-world countries. Billions of people around the world would migrate to the United States in the blink of an eye solely for the basic rights mentioned above. Fraudsters, scammers, human traffickers, and fake immigration attorneys exploit the vulnerabilities of innocent people, stealing millions of dollars from immigration seekers. It’s not only in Bangladesh or done by the fake Bangladeshi immigration attorneys, but it is also a trillion-dollar business for the cartels, mafias, and human traffickers all over the world.
Many people might be surprised that poor individuals cannot pay nearly $50,000 to cartels, human traffickers, or fake immigration attorneys to come to America. That’s why only super-rich, corrupt people from all over the world can pay this enormous amount of money and migrate to the United States. This is also true for almost all illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. At least, our experience and encounter with the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the United States tells and shows us so.
The surprising fact is that most of the Bangladeshi immigrants are within the lower income bracket here, but they are super-rich or even millionaires in Bangladesh. These people do not hesitate to spend around $50 to $70 thousand to come to America. People from this demographic are the main target of fraudsters who lure them with false hope in advertisements, similar to snake oil sellers in both online and mainstream media. Some of the advertisements read, “Do you like settling in America? “Get your green card by investing only 50-60K in America.” Fraudsters take around $50 thousand just to let people into the United States through either the southern or northern borders.
Usually, we do not see any actions against these cartels by the governments of dysfunctional third-world countries where larger populations and poverty are problems. In this regard, the American embassies in those countries could take some steps to address this issue. It would be like preventing the disease before contemplating curing it. The American embassies could launch campaigns against illegal migration and fraudsters in both online and offline media in respective countries. The American embassies could also work with local law enforcement partners to nab those fraudsters and scammers.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author
The writer is an Associate professor, Multimedia journalism, Canisius University, New York. E-mail: [email protected]
