On May 9th, it was announced that Andreea Dumitru, AKA Andreea Dumitru Parcalaboiu, an immigration attorney based in Queens, New York, would be sentenced to five years in prison for submitting fraudulent asylum applications to US immigration authorities. She was convicted of a scheme in which she knowingly made false statements about her clients’ personal histories of alleged persecution, their criminal histories, and their travel histories, and used forged signatures and false notarizations to get these fabricated stories past immigration authorities. For this scheme, she will serve five years in prison, plus an additional year of supervised release, and she was ordered to pay a fine of $157,500.

When applying for asylum, or when engaging with any other aspect of the immigration system, it is essential that your applications and filings be made honestly and competently. Lying on an asylum application is a crime, and one that can have major implications for your chances at receiving asylum. That’s why it’s essential to have a skilled, experienced and ethical attorney to help you through the immigration process, and who will help you avoid this sort of disaster.

Whether you use a lawyer, a notary or a friend, you are responsible for what you sign. DHS, ICE, CIS and Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) will review all the applications she prepared. People who may have had legitimate cases filed by her will come under scrutiny. People who won cases or were awarded benefits, may see actions to revoke, such as a removal proceeding. When confronted by law enforcement in such circumstances, people, including non-citizens, have rights. They ought to know their rights. There are often defenses or relief available for non-citizens who engaged in fraud. Moreover, some of the applicants she represented can be characterized as victims.

Don’t let this happen to you. If you are a non-citizen looking to make an asylum application, or are having trouble with any other immigration issue, please call the attorneys at Bretz & Coven LLP. We will help you through the difficult process of applying for immigration or asylum status, protect your rights and provide you the best chance possible at winning your case. To schedule a consultation with our New York immigration lawyers, call (212) 267-2555.