Humanitarian Visa Fraud Exposed
Washington Attorney Accused of Scamming Thousands of Immigrants with Fake Humanitarian Visa Applications
An immigration attorney in Washington state allegedly promised
Alexandra Lozano built a firm called Luz del Camino Legal that grew to over 53,000 pending cases, according to WSBA. She charged clients $10,000 to $15,000 each, often paid in installments. Her firm closed in June 2026. The Washington State Bar Association is now moving to disbar her, calling it an "unprecedented scale" of ethical violations, according to US News.
How the Alleged Scam Worked Inside the Firm
Lozano's firm allegedly ran like an assembly line. Unlicensed workers — many based outside the U.S. — conducted client interviews and drafted legal declarations, according to MyNorthwest. These workers had no legal credentials. They allegedly invented stories of domestic abuse and human trafficking to file for T visas and U visas without clients knowing.
T visas are for victims of severe human trafficking. U visas are for crime victims who help law enforcement. Lozano allegedly claimed clients were
53,000 Clients Now Face Possible Deportation
The fallout is severe. Clients who signed applications — often without knowing what was in them — may now face permanent bars from legal status. Filing an application with false information is a deportable offense under U.S. immigration law, according to WSBA.
Legal experts say the damage is enormous. "She hasn't just stolen their money; she has put 53,000 people on the radar for deportation," said Maria Sanchez of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, according to WSLS. The total loss to the immigrant community in legal fees alone is estimated at over $500 million, according to class action court filings cited by US News.
Trump Administration Uses Case to Overhaul Visa Programs
The Trump administration has pointed to Lozano's case to justify sweeping changes to T and U visa programs. T visa applications nationwide jumped 300% between 2020 and 2024, according to USCIS data cited by MyNorthwest. Officials say the spike is "evidence of a fraudulent industry."
New rules would create a "rebuttable presumption of fraud" for T visa applications and cap the number a single firm can file each year, according to WOKV. Advocacy groups like the ACLU warn this punishes real victims. "The response should be to regulate the lawyers, not to abolish the protections for victims," an ACLU representative said.
Firm's Defense Clashes With Prosecutors' Fraud Theory
Before the firm closed, Lozano's team argued she was a "disruptor" being targeted by the legal establishment. They claimed her methods were legitimate interpretations of "psychological trafficking," according to Tri City Record. Lozano once said in a promotional video: "We find the paths to legal status that other lawyers are too afraid to take."
Prosecutors and the WSBA tell a different story. They argue the firm never intended for the visas to be granted. The real goal, they say, was to keep clients paying monthly installments for years while applications sat in a backlog of over 300,000 U visa cases, according to US News.
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