The federal lawsuit against former Tukwila immigration attorney Alexandra Lozano just expanded from nine plaintiffs to 34, with even more people coming forward claiming they were misled by Lozano’s immigration practice and lost thousands of dollars.
The lawsuit in Western Washington expanded from nine to 34 plaintiffs alleging Lozano steered clients into filings they didn’t qualify for.
The updated complaint asks a federal judge to allow former clients to recover luxury assets purchased with money from Lozano’s law practice, including a private jet worth an estimated $25 million and several multimillion-dollar homes.
Lozano built one of the country’s largest immigration law firms, promoting herself online as the “Lawyer of Miracles.”
KING 5 identified a bright pink Bombardier Challenger 300 private jet with the word “Abogada,” Spanish for attorney, a term Lozano frequently used in her marketing.
Vicente Barraza, an attorney representing former clients, said: “She found this market, a vulnerable market, a fearful market, a desperate market, and created a system that reported with religious imagery to produce miracles, and now their miracles are turning into nightmares.”
The firm concentrated on specific immigration cases because they generated higher fees.
The firm focused on VAWA and T Visa cases because higher fees could be charged, and most of the work appears to have been done in Colombia and Mexico.
The lawsuit accuses Lozano and her firm of steering some immigrants into abuse-based immigration filings they allegedly did not qualify for, falsifying documents and submitting immigration applications clients did not fully understand.
Gabriel Martinez Garcia, 30, said: “I put the trust of my family with her.”
After the family paid $30,000, Garcia said Lozano duped his family and got his mother placed in removal proceedings despite her marriage to a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Garcia said Lozano “didn’t explain to me what was VAWA,” adding “I had to find my own way to Google it.”
Garcia later added: “We believed in her and then she just let us down,” and that his mother was placed in removal proceedings.
Seattle attorney Vicente Barraza, who is leading the case, said: “Ms. Lozano created a humanitarian immigration mill in which she took cases she probably should not have taken.”
The self-proclaimed “lawyer of miracles” racked up revenues or payment promises of more than $400 million, according to an amended complaint filed in Western Washington’s federal court.
Attorneys for dozens of former Lozano clients calculated the sum based on her average fees, between $10,000 and $15,000, and her number of current clients.
The complaint alleges Lozano filed fraudulent immigration documents and used unauthorized electronic signatures.
The complaint states she used images of the Virgin of Guadalupe “in her marketing materials to convey the impression she is capable of miracles.”
Among the allegations: directing staff to communicate false or misleading information to clients, allowing non-attorneys to prepare legal filings, using digital client signatures without proper explanation, and charging “unreasonable fees” ranging from $10,000 to $15,000 for applications some clients were allegedly not eligible to file.
The complaint claims Lozano submitted “fraudulent” paperwork for some clients, asserting they were victims of abuse or trafficking “often without their knowledge or their consent.”
Rocha and his sister Izzy Picazo said their family later discovered Lozano had filed paperwork claiming her father, Nelson Sanchez, was a victim of domestic violence, something the family says was false.
Amid a pending investigation, Lozano has voluntarily surrendered her law license.
Lozano resigned from the Washington State Bar Association in May in lieu of discipline, permanently ending her ability to practice law in Washington.
In a statement, her attorney said: “Alexandra denies the allegations that have been raised by a small number of the thousands of individuals she has represented. She will address those allegations fully in court.”
Angelo Calfo, an attorney representing Lozano, said clients were expected to review their applications before signing and blamed them for any false statements, stating: “Alexandra’s practice has 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.”
Legal experts say a lot of people are going to find themselves without representation and facing deportation, with estimates that the market of immigration attorneys cannot absorb 35,000 cases filed by the firm.
The Washington State Bar Association says Lozano’s signature appears on more than 53,000 pending federal immigration cases.
On June 10, Luz Legal announced it was closing permanently and would stop providing legal representation, leaving more than 35,000 active clients without counsel.
Vicente Barraza said: “I’m certain there’s probably thousands of victims in California and maybe a couple hundred if not more in the Fresno area.”
Nearly 6,000 former clients have joined a lawsuit accusing former immigration attorney Alexandra Lozano of legal malpractice, alleging they were misled into filing improper immigration applications that could now jeopardize their futures in the United States.
Lozano built a significant presence in California through traveling promotional events she called “Milagrosa” tours, targeting underserved Latino communities throughout the Central Valley and beyond.
As of June 18, Lozano has been suspended from practicing before USCIS, the Immigration Courts, and the Board of Immigration Appeals.