Key Points
- An attorney in Washington state, Alexandra Lozano, is accused in lawsuits and an ethics investigation of creating fake domestic abuse and human trafficking stories to secure humanitarian visas for immigrants without their knowledge.
- The lawyer’s firm, Luz del Camino Legal, closed in June, and Lozano permanently surrendered her law licence rather than face discipline from the bar association.
- The bar says her signature appears on more than 53,000 pending cases, making the scale of the alleged scheme unusually large.
- Former clients say they paid tens of thousands of dollars, signed papers they did not fully see, and later discovered they may have been placed into legal jeopardy.
- The Trump administration has tightened parts of the humanitarian visa system, arguing the surge in applications reflects fraud, while advocates say the changes may harm genuine abuse victims.
- The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services fraud unit is reported to be investigating the matter, while the Department of Homeland Security has declined to comment.
Seattle (Evening Washington News) July 1, 2026 – A Washington state attorney is facing allegations that she exploited immigrants seeking legal status by submitting false claims of domestic abuse and human trafficking in humanitarian visa applications, according to lawsuits and a legal ethics investigation. As reported by AP writer Jesse Bedayn, the accusations centre on Alexandra Lozano, whose firm allegedly promised “miracles” to vulnerable clients while instead leaving many at risk of deportation.
Who is Alexandra Lozano?
Lozano is described in the report as a Washington state immigration attorney who specialised in humanitarian visa work tied to the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.
These programmes are designed to protect people who have suffered abuse or trafficking, and they use more flexible evidence standards than many other immigration routes.
According to the article, that same flexibility also made the system easier to abuse if a firm acted dishonestly.
How were the applications allegedly handled?
The report says Lozano’s firm allegedly built an assembly-line process to rush applications, including copying clients’ signatures onto documents they never saw.
Former workers are said to have handled cases from Colombia, Mexico and Argentina without clients meeting a U.S.-licensed lawyer, according to the article. One former employee, Rafael Alvarez, said,
“Alexandra was telling us to please invent more information about the abuse because it is not real abuse,”
as quoted in the AP report.
What are clients saying?
Several former clients told AP they trusted the firm, paid large sums and later learned their cases may have contained false claims.
Gabriel Martinez Garcia said his family paid $30,000 and believed the firm was helping his mother, only for her to end up in removal proceedings, according to the report.
Erika Sanchez said she and her husband paid more than $32,000 and later discovered an application contained false abuse allegations involving his teenage daughter.
What do the lawsuits allege?
The article says lawsuits accuse Lozano of creating fake stories of domestic abuse and trafficking without clients’ knowledge, while draining their bank accounts.
The report also states that clients were allegedly steered into claims that did not meet the legal threshold for the humanitarian programmes.
Attorneys representing former clients say many people did not realise the alleged fraud until years later, often when they were facing stricter scrutiny during green card or permanent residency stages.
What has Lozano said?
Lozano’s attorney, Angelo Calfo, denied wrongdoing and said clients were expected to review applications before signing.
He said her practice had always been to
“fight for her clients, zealously pursue every lawful option available to them, and support their efforts to build lives in this country,”
according to the AP report. The article also says Lozano denies mass immigration fraud.
How large is the alleged scheme?
The AP report says the bar association believes Lozano’s signature appears on more than 53,000 pending cases.
It also says federal data shows immigration service scams are rising sharply, with at least 920 reports in 2025, more than the first three years of the Biden administration combined, based on FTC data analysed by AP.
The report adds that experts believe the number is likely an undercount because immigrants are often reluctant to come forward.
Why does the case matter now?
The article says the Trump administration began overhauling parts of the humanitarian visa system after arguing that the rise in applications since 2020 suggested widespread fraud.
In December, the immigration agency said it would narrow the domestic violence visa programme and give more weight to evidence supplied by alleged abusers, which advocacy groups say could make it harder for genuine victims to get protection.
The report presents the case as part of a wider debate over how to stop abuse of the system without blocking legitimate claims.
What happens to ex-clients now?
According to the AP report, former clients are trying to recover case files from the closed firm and are seeking legal help from volunteer attorneys.
Some are joining lawsuits seeking financial compensation for malpractice or legal fees, while the federal immigration agency has issued guidance on withdrawing cases or updating addresses so processing can continue.
For many affected families, the article says the concern is not only money but the possibility that the alleged misconduct has destroyed a path to legal status.
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Background of the development
Humanitarian visas in the United States are intended to protect victims of trafficking and domestic violence, and the rules are designed to be accessible because many applicants cannot safely rely on abusers for evidence.
That flexibility has long made these programmes vulnerable to exploitation by unethical practitioners, which is why immigration lawyers have warned that bad actors can distort the system from inside.
In this case, the bar’s action, the firm’s closure and the reported federal fraud investigation have turned the allegations into a wider test of oversight in immigration legal services.
Prediction
For immigrant communities, especially people seeking protection through abuse-related or trafficking-related visas, this case is likely to increase caution, paperwork checks and legal scrutiny. That may help expose dishonest operators, but it could also slow legitimate cases and make applicants more fearful of trusting lawyers.
For affected families, the immediate impact may be continued legal uncertainty, possible deportation proceedings and a lengthy effort to recover records or correct filings.
