Complaints Rise Against Immigration Lawyers

Bolivian immigrants Rene and Fanny Saavedra of Gaithersburg with son Alexis. Rene Saavedra won permanent U.S. residency in 2000, but his wife was mistakenly told by their attorney that she would have to wait for her green card. (By Lucian Perkins -- The Washington Post)

The couple's three children -- ages 3, 7 and 9 -- were born in the United States and are citizens, and Fanny Saavedra's teenage daughter, born in Bolivia, was able to gain permanent residency in 2002 as Rene Saavedra's stepchild.

In her own Gaithersburg home, only Fanny Saavedra is in the country illegally, haunted by the memory of the raid that led to her deportation order. Even the news that her case has been reopened and will be heard by an immigration judge this month has done little to quell her anxiety.

"It's like trauma for me," the 40-year-old housekeeper said. "I'm afraid, really afraid. I don't want to leave my kids."

But the idea of filing a grievance seemed like asking for more trouble when the family was focused on legalizing Fanny Saavedra's status. "We didn't make a complaint, because we didn't want any more legal problems with our situation," Rene Saavedra said.

In a field dominated by solo practitioners and firms of two to three lawyers, even conscientious ones can find it hard to keep up with changes in the law and the strict demands of immigration courts.

"A lot of people get into this practice and they mean well, and they get overwhelmed -- they get totally overwhelmed," said Michael Maggio, whose Dupont Circle firm, Maggio & Kattar, has one of the area's biggest immigration practices.

Last year, the American Immigration Lawyers Association created a practice and professionalism center to provide guidance for lawyers navigating immigration law, as more are entering the immigration field. The association has grown from fewer than 4,000 members in 1994 to more than 10,000. Only New York and Miami have more members than the Washington region, which has about 800.

When a lawyer's lapse costs an immigrant whatever opportunity he or she had, the aftermath can be heartbreaking.

"No matter what we do to show the lawyer did wrong, [the immigrant] may still be deported," Herman said, drawing on her experience with the D.C. bar counsel office. "It's more than frustrating. It's tragic in some cases. They may be separated from their children. They may be deported to a country they haven't lived in since they were an infant. Their whole lives are turned upside down."

Fanny Saavedra wakes up with such fears every day, despite her attorney's confidence that she'll be allowed to stay. "My husband, he always supports me," she said. "Whatever happens, we'll be together. If we go back, we're going to go back, all of us."