What's at stake:
Thousands of immigrants were scammed by attorney Alexandra Lozano, whose firm, according to multiple lawsuits, submitted fraudulent immigration applications on clients' behalf.
She called herself the “abogada de los milagros.”
The miracle lawyer.
Her Washington-based firm, with offices up and down the west coast, including in Fresno, claimed it could win immigration cases that no other attorneys could. She promised miracles. Thousands of desperate immigrants believed her.
“I don’t think that the establishment understands the damage that this case has done to the reputation of lawyers,” said Vicente Omar Barraza, a Seattle-based co-counsel on The Lozano Civil Action. “Latinos already don’t trust lawyers because lawyers in the third world often are the handlers for the corruption, and most of my clients from Mexico and Central America don’t trust lawyers, and now they trust us even less.”
But, according to a federal class action lawsuit, attorney Alexandra Lozano defrauded thousands of immigrants she was claiming to help.
And while the exact size and scope of the alleged deception remains unclear, attorneys now charged with sorting through the massive, multi-state case files, tens of thousands of cases appear to have been deliberately mishandled.
The Washington State Bar Association says her signature appears on more than 53,000 pending federal immigration cases.
Fresnoland reached out to multiple former clients of Lazanos, including clients in Fresno, but all declined to comment, citing a fear of further complicating their already daunting federal cases.
In Fresno, over two dozen people have registered from the 559 area code for the civil mass action lawsuit, according to Barraza. The legal team has received more than 5,000 inquiries from potential plaintiffs since filing the case.
According to multiple lawsuits and a Washington state bar investigation, Lozano filed humanitarian visa applications built on fabricated claims of domestic abuse and human trafficking, often without her clients’ knowledge.
The Washington state lawsuit accuses the law firm of focusing on high-fee humanitarian cases, including Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) petitions and T visas.
Plaintiffs say she charged clients roughly $10,000 to $15,000 while outsourcing much of the work overseas. They also allege she exploited immigrants’ desperation, leaving many in debt and at risk of deportation.
Her firm, Luz del Camino Legal, closed in May. The office in Fresno, located near the Fresno Yosemite Airport, is also permanently closed. Fresnoland located the office and found that signage has been removed, but the inside isn’t empty.
Hints of Lozano’s marketing, such as religious glass candles and the words “proteccion, permiso, papeles” on the wall, which translates to “protection, permission, paperwork,” can be seen inside.
Fresnoland also attempted to contact Luz del Camino Legal and have not received a response.
Barraza said he was unaware that an office was located in Fresno. However, he described many of Lozano’s California offices as document collection centers rather than traditional law offices, alleging that much of the substantive case preparation was performed in Colombia.
Lozano permanently surrendered her law license rather than face disciplinary proceedings, Barraza said, though she denies wrongdoing. She also accepted service of the federal lawsuit without requiring attorneys to locate her, allowing the case to move forward despite uncertainty about her whereabouts.
Beyond its immediate immigration consequences, Fresno immigration attorneys say the case has deepened mistrust between immigrant communities and the legal system. Many immigrants from Latin America already approach attorneys with skepticism because of corruption in their home countries, they say, and the Lozano case has further undermined that trust.
How Lozano’s fraud scheme has led to repercussions in Fresno
Some immigrants first learned what was in their applications during immigration interviews, Barraza said, discovering inaccurate or false claims. Many of those cases are now being denied over signature irregularities and alleged misrepresentations, potentially placing clients in removal proceedings.
Investigators allege the firm routinely misrepresented workplace or family conflicts as abuse to qualify clients for those programs. They also accuse Lozano of relying on hundreds of employees in Colombia, Mexico and Argentina to advise clients and prepare applications, meaning many clients never consulted a U.S. licensed attorney.
Olga Grosh, a Fresno immigration attorney who has consulted with former Lozano clients, said the fallout is now extending well beyond the attorney’s former clients.
“There’s a presumption of fraud by every VAWA applicant, as well as huge repercussions of removal at the border without even a chance to see a judge or to have a trained immigration agent or officer review the actual application,” Grosh said. “So that’s been huge, and there’s been a lot more repercussions, such as people being put into deportation proceedings, because of all of this.”
Many former Lozano clients have been unable to determine what was actually filed on their behalf. While some never received their files after the firm closed, others were given files containing only blank or incomplete forms.
Attorneys across the U.S., including here in Fresno, cannot determine whether clients should withdraw, amend or continue their pending cases because they do not know what was submitted to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
To reconstruct their cases, many former clients are now filing Freedom of Information Act requests with the federal government to obtain copies of their immigration records—a process that can take months. In the meantime, Grosh said, many families remain in limbo after paying thousands of dollars for legal representation without knowing what was filed in their names.
Grosh said immigrants should be cautious of attorneys who promise relief after other lawyers have determined they are ineligible. She also urged clients never to sign documents they have not read or had translated and to always request copies of their case files.
“I’m very worried that people will now revert back to notarios, which have no license to practice law in the United States,” Grosh said. “People need to be careful, and why it is still very important that they do seek legal help from an attorney or an accredited Board of Immigration Appeals representative.”
Lazaro Salazar, a Fresno immigration attorney, said the consequences are particularly severe for immigrants with prior deportation orders, expedited removals or other immigration violations that could have made them ineligible for the relief Lozano sought on their behalf.
Salazar said it’s difficult to estimate how many Fresno-area families may have been affected.
Salazar said his office has consulted with roughly 25 to 30 former Lozano clients. Less than half, he said, appear to have cases that can move forward.
“If you have doubt, do your due diligence to get that second or third opinion,” Salazar said. “If you already know that you have a prior history with immigration, it’s critically important that we be honest with ourselves and not hope for the miracle.”
‘A system like an assembly line’
Barraza said one of the most troubling aspects of the case is that many clients never met the attorney they believed they had hired. He said effective immigration representation requires lawyers to know a client’s full story and personal circumstances, particularly in humanitarian cases such as VAWA petitions and T visa applications, where credibility and individualized narratives are essential.
“She created a system that was like an assembly line,” Barraza said. “And that way people would come in and she’d sign them up. I don’t think she ever said no to anybody.”
The lawsuit also alleges Lozano expanded the model beyond her own firm through multiple companies, training hundreds of immigration attorneys nationwide to use similar practices. Court filings claim she earned more than $1.7 million between 2019 and 2021 from teaching those methods.
According to Barraza, Lozano’s business model focused heavily on VAWA petitions and T visa applications because they are labor-intensive cases that command higher legal fees. He said the practice allowed the firm to dramatically increase the volume of cases it filed but also meant many clients never reviewed the applications submitted on their behalf.
Some clients, Barraza said, only learned what had been filed when they attended their green card interviews, where they discovered declarations containing inaccurate or fabricated claims. He said some clients felt pressured to repeat those claims during interviews out of fear their cases would otherwise be denied for fraud.
He urged people to meet directly with licensed attorneys before hiring them, verify attorneys’ state bar licenses, research their backgrounds and avoid paying large sums of money without first confirming the attorney’s credentials.
How a “lawyer of miracles” built trust with clients and attorneys
Lozano also posed with the Virgen de Guadalupe on social media with clients, and Fresno attorneys say that she deliberately incorporated religious imagery into her marketing to build trust with Catholic Latino communities. This includes providing legal services as a religious or charitable undertaking, rather than for personal profit.
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, said Carolina Castaneda, senior staff attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
Rather than explaining that clients would be seeking immigration relief through VAWA, Castaneda said the firm marketed itself as uniquely capable of obtaining legal status because it supposedly understood the law better than other attorneys.
Even Lozano’s name, Castaneda pointed out, takes advantage of the Latino surname from her husband, Manuel Lozano Rodriguez, whom she is legally separated from. Lozano’s birth name is Alexandra Kennedy, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court.
“What we’re telling people is to go with somebody who is trusted within the community,” Castaneda said. “Make sure that whoever you speak to is licensed, so ask for their bar card and that they’re in good standing.”
Castaneda also warned former Lozano clients not to withdraw their immigration applications before consulting an attorney. She said some immigrants have received messages from USCIS encouraging them to withdraw applications without explaining the potential consequences.
“The concern there is that if folks are withdrawing their application, they might think that they’re safe, but in reality, what’s going to happen is that USCIS is going to issue them a notice to appear,” Castaneda said. “Now they’re going to be placed in removal proceedings with the immigration court.”
For former clients, Castaneda said the ILRC published a guide on obtaining complete copies of both their law firm file and the records submitted to USCIS as well as other steps for people to take.
Castaneda said people should next consult an immigration attorney or Department of Justice-accredited representative before making any decisions about their cases and should immediately update their mailing address with USCIS so they do not miss important immigration notices.
What’s next for the case?
The federal civil lawsuit has now expanded to include 34 plaintiffs, a request to freeze her assets including her private jet, and a broader investigation into her shuttered firm.
Fresno attorneys say they are frustrated by what they see as a lack of action from government agencies and are unaware of any efforts specifically aimed at helping affected clients in Fresno. Attorneys encourage former Lozano clients to file complaints with the California attorney general and the State Bar of California.
Former Lozano clients can also learn more about next steps for their immigration cases and sign up for the class action lawsuit through The Lozano Civil Action.
