[su_slider source=”media: 32041,32042,32043,32044,32045,32046,32047″ limit=”40″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_slider source=”media: 29856,29857″ limit=”30″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_menu][\/su_slider]<\/p>\n
<\/b>Leonard Lacayo\u2014a San Francisco public notary and outspoken Latino Trump supporter who has provided unlicensed legal services to many undocumented immigrants over the past three decades\u2014has been ordered to halt his \u201cunlawful\u201d practices after a civil lawsuit alleging fraud was filed against his company.<\/p>\n
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed a complaint on Aug. 15 against Lacayo & Associates, alleging that Lacayo and his mother, Ada Lacayo, offered unlawful immigration consulting, providing \u201cincompetent services while robbing clients of thousands of dollars.\u201d It also alleged that Lacayo had wrongfully presented himself as a lawyer to his clients.<\/p>\n
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harold Kahn signed the order for a preliminary injunction on Oct. 11, in effect barring the 64-year-old Lacayo from providing any legal services.<\/p>\n
\u201cSan Francisco has had a long history…starting from Walter Pineda to [Martin] Guajardo, and Lacayo, for many years, taking advantage of our community,\u201d said Maria Victoria Castro, executive Director of La Raza Centro Legal, whose organization is helping one of Lacayo\u2019s alleged victims.<\/p>\n
According to the six declarations in the complaint, Lacayo\u2019s clients\u2014believing he was a licensed attorney\u2014paid him fees to perform legal services, ranging from green card renewals and DACA applications to citizenship and asylum applications. Those listed in the complaint say they never received proper services from Lacayo for the money they paid him, and eventually discovered that he wasn\u2019t a lawyer.<\/p>\n
But Lacayo\u2014who says he\u2019s been in business for 33 years\u2014claims those allegations are false, that he never took money for immigration services and that those behind the lawsuit are spreading lies and are just \u201cout to ruin people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything was legal,\u201d Lacayo told El Tecolote, insisting that he had never given out legal advice of any kind, and that he referred clients seeking legal help to licensed lawyers. Several receipts included in the complaint show otherwise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not consistent with the many victims that we have interviewed, including the six that submitted declarations in support of our motion,\u201d said Deputy City Attorney Natalie Orr. \u201cAll of whom say that they met with Lacayo himself. That he presented himself as a lawyer, or implied that he was a lawyer. He\u2019s the one who advised them about what immigration benefits they were eligible for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lacayo also suggested the lawsuit was politically motivated because he\u2019s a Republican and an ardent Trump supporter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have an agreement with the Trump campaign,\u201d said Lacayo, claiming that the media has taken Trump\u2019s words against immigrants out of context. \u201cHe\u2019s saying, \u2018If you\u2019re a criminal, drug dealer, rapist, you have go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Lacayo said he supports a pathway toward citizenship for law-abiding undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my goal: to legalize every Latino we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked to respond to Lacayo\u2019s claim, Orr said, \u201cI don\u2019t know what to say to that. That had nothing to do with our investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of Lacayo\u2019s former clients, a Salvadoran immigrant named in the lawsuit who has requested anonymity, is now receiving legal counsel from La Raza Centro Legal immigration attorney Amanda Alvarado Ford.<\/p>\n
According to Ford, her client, fleeing from an abusive husband, sought services from Lacayo sometime between 2012 and 2014, believing he was a lawyer,<\/p>\n
Lacayo filed an asylum application for her, even though he wasn\u2019t well-versed in asylum law, according to Ford.<\/p>\n
When Lacayo\u2019s former client approached La Raza Centro Legal, she explained she was fearful over her situation, that she had paid him about $1,500, and that she had a feeling she had been defrauded.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, her feelings were true,\u201d Ford said. \u201cMy client, at the time Mr. Lacayo submitted her asylum application, she was at a real risk of being deported.\u201d<\/p>\n
The law changed, however, with the decision in Matter of A-R-C-G, a case that gave women, who are victims of domestic violence and who are in married relationships with their abusers, the opportunity to be granted asylum. After seeking assistance from La Raza Centro Legal, Ford\u2019s client was approved for asylum in Dec. of 2015.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an instance of a predatory notario,\u201d Ford said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s really unfortunate because our community is very vulnerable. They want nothing more than to live here with status, with some sort of pathway to citizenship, or at least with employment authorization.\u201d<\/p>\n
The preliminary injunction also called for Lacayo to remove the misleading advertising from his building, which Lacayo has done. The left side of his office building for years read \u201cLaw offices of Michelle L Alvarez,\u201d but Michelle L Alvarez\u2019s name was removed sometime after 2014, leaving it to read \u201cLaw offices of Lacayo,\u201d which the lawsuit claims misled clients. Some of Lacayo\u2019s former clients also said that Lacayo told them he was a lawyer.<\/p>\n
In California, only licensed attorneys in one of the 50 states and accredited representatives from the Board of Immigration Appeals can provide legal immigration advice to clients; Lacayo is neither.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, he\u2019s not qualified to give immigration advice,\u201d Ford said, urging undocumented people seeking immigration advice to consult community organizations like La Raza Centro Legal, Dolores Community Services or Central American Resource Center (CARECEN).<\/p>\n
But Lacayo maintains that he is innocent. He called Herrera a liar who \u201cdoesn\u2019t know anything about Latinos.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey sued my 90-year-old mother,\u201d said Lacayo. \u201cEvery negative word is fake. They are fakers of the worst kind.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also labeled organizations such as La Raza Centro Legal and CARECEN as \u201cshakedown operations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t help Latinos,\u201d Lacayo said. \u201cThey rob them blind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lacayo claims he\u2019s a fifth generation San Franciscan, who can trace his ancestry back to 1769 Spanish California. He traveled to Nicaragua as a young man, where he spent 10 years being educated and running refugee centers during the civil war. He said he returned to San Francisco in 1983-84, eventually starting his business a short time later.<\/p>\n
Though no longer practicing immigration services, he continues his tax and notary services.<\/p>\n
Former Lacayo clients who have been victimized can call Deputy City Attorneys Natalie Orr\u2019s office at: 415-355-3270.<\/p>\n
Those looking for legal assistance can call the Lawyer Referral & Information Service and ask for Antonio Hernandez at: 415-989-1616.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[su_slider source=”media: 32041,32042,32043,32044,32045,32046,32047″ limit=”40″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_slider source=”media: 29856,29857″ limit=”30″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_menu][\/su_slider] Leonard Lacayo\u2014a San Francisco public notary and outspoken Latino Trump supporter who has provided unlicensed legal services to many undocumented immigrants over the past three decades\u2014has been ordered to halt his \u201cunlawful\u201d practices after a civil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":32041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3929],"tags":[11851,3794,11847,3845,11853,11845,11849],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-32040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-carecen-en","tag-dennis-herrera-en","tag-fraud","tag-immigration-en","tag-la-raza-centro-legal-en","tag-leonard-lacayo","tag-trump","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n