By: Richard Hanus, Esq.
August 11, 2025
The vast majority of the 12 million or so undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. are otherwise law abiding and would do pretty much anything in order to acquire legal immigration status in the U.S. For these desperate immigrants, there was and is no “line” or “right way”, only a dream of one day being able to step out of the shadows and legalize their stay in the U.S., especially those who have spent a decade or more making a life here and raising their families. Such a solution will pave the way for a secure existence, premised on what motivated their journey to live in the U.S. in the first place – to work hard, get ahead and with greater opportunities for achievement for themselves and/or their children. When a chance to legalize their status or obtain a work permit presents, desperate undocumented immigrants will tend to jump, often dispensing with common sense in favor of the fantasy of legalizing and getting on a path to becoming an American citizen. This is the demographic folks like Fatima DeMaria and others in the immigration fraud business feast on. The immigration fraudster’s audience is vulnerable and desperate and all too ready to spend large sums to take a chance on an improved quality of life and a share of the American dream.
Earlier this month, Ms. Demaria, a nonlawyer and Pennsylvania resident, was indicted on federal charges for posing as an immigration attorney from December, 2021 through July, 2024 and concocting stories of persecution to support false asylum applications for undocumented immigrant clients. The lure of the asylum application process for Demaria’s victims is that applicants are eligible to obtain an Employment Authorization Document (work permit) while their application is pending and notwithstanding the legitimacy of their asylum claim. In exchange for her “services”, clients paid Demaria a fee ranging from $6,000 to $15,000.
To obtain asylum in the U.S., a foreign national must prove they fear return to their home country on account of persecution they’ll face (or have faced in the past) on account of their race, religion, political belief or social group. Generally speaking, it can take 3-5 years for an applicant to be scheduled for an interview on an asylum application. During this waiting period, no review of the substance of an application takes place, but applicants are nevertheless eligible to obtain an Employment Authorization Document. This is where the opening for folks like DeMaria comes in, since the document preparer can pretty much make up any story they want to include in their client’s application, direct them to sign on the dotted line and keep good on a promise of eventually delivering an official Employment Authorization Document.
Of course there is always the question of what an applicant reads or does not read before signing their application, although the charges against DeMaria allege that her victims were unwitting signors to the fabricated stories of persecution. In the end though, a denied, fraudulent asylum application has severe consequences for the applicant, including being placed in removal proceedings and subject to deportation.
According to the indictment, “neither defendant DeMaria nor anyone working at her direction … collected personalized information from her alien clients about whether they had suffered past persecution or had a well-founded fear of persecution in their home countries based on a protected class under the refugee and asylum laws,”…..”Defendant DeMaria instead caused recycled and boilerplate false material facts and claims of persecution to be included in application after application, without verifying with her alien clients whether these statements were true.”
DeMaria faces the possibility of 240 years imprisonment and a $4 million fine. Prosecutors are also seeking her forfeiture of the fruits of her alleged fraud scheme in excess of $1 million. For more details and background on the indictment see the Department of Justice’s press release.
The longer our nation awaits comprehensive immigration reform and the implementation of a path to legalization, the greater the opportunity for fraudsters looking to take advantage of our vulnerable undocumented population.
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