Washington State Attorney Alexandra Lozano Surrendered Her License After 53,000 Immigration Cases Were Flagged for Fraud

What Happened

Alexandra Lozano ran Luz del Camino Legal, an immigration firm whose reach was anything but small. According to WBAL, citing Associated Press reporting, her signature appears on more than 53,000 pending cases — a number the Washington State Bar Association confirmed as part of its ethics investigation.

The firm closed this month. Lozano permanently surrendered her law license before bar disciplinary proceedings concluded. Her attorney, Angelo Calfo, told the Associated Press that clients were expected to review their applications before signing and placed responsibility on them for any false statements.

Lozano herself denies wrongdoing.

The Alleged Scheme

The lawsuits paint a specific picture. Lozano's firm allegedly probed clients about problems at home or at work, then reframed those situations as domestic abuse or human trafficking cases, even when the facts didn't meet the legal threshold for the programs she was filing under.

Clients say they never saw the applications submitted in their names. According to the Associated Press, workers without proper legal credentials were hired to process cases, and the firm ran what attorneys for former clients describe as an assembly-line system, including copying clients' signatures onto documents they hadn't reviewed.

Gabriel Martinez Garcia, 30, told the Associated Press that his family paid $30,000. His mother ended up in removal proceedings despite being married to a naturalized U.S. citizen. "I put the trust of my family with her," he said. "We believed in her and then she just let us down."

The Programs Being Exploited

Lozano specialized in two federal humanitarian visa programs: the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which covers all genders, according to the Associated Press.

These programs carry more flexible evidence standards by design. They exist specifically to protect trafficking and abuse victims whose immigration status might be weaponized by their abusers. That flexibility is the point. Without it, victims who lack documentation wouldn't be able to come forward.

But that same flexibility creates an opening. Immigration attorneys who spoke to the Associated Press said the lower evidentiary bar makes these programs easier for an unscrupulous firm to exploit at scale.

The Defense Worth Hearing

Calfo's argument on Lozano's behalf deserves a fair read before dismissing it. Clients signed documents. They received work permits quickly. In some cases, problems only surfaced years later when permanent residency applications faced greater scrutiny. The defense position is that clients bore responsibility for what they signed.

That argument collapses when clients say they never saw the documents they allegedly signed and when the lawsuits describe signature copying as standard practice at the firm. If that allegation is proven, the "clients signed off" defense doesn't hold. It's not a closed question yet, but that's where the factual dispute sits.

System-Wide Fallout

Erika Gonzalez, an attorney with the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, told the Associated Press the consequences of Lozano's downfall are hitting the immigration system "like a tidal wave." With 53,000 pending cases now in limbo, real clients — including those who may have had legitimate claims — are caught in the wreckage.

The Trump administration moved last year to overhaul both programs Lozano allegedly exploited, pointing to a surge in applications since 2020 as evidence of widespread fraud. The administration tightened eligibility and slowed processing rates. Immigration advocacy groups argue this hurts genuine victims who need these protections.

Both concerns are real and not mutually exclusive. Fraud at the scale alleged here is exactly the kind of abuse that justifies skepticism about program integrity. At the same time, restricting access to programs designed for abuse victims carries a direct human cost for people who aren't gaming the system.

Federal data, per the Associated Press, shows immigration service scams are rising sharply. Lozano's alleged operation stands out not in kind but in scale.

What's Unresolved

It's unclear, as of June 29, 2026, how many of the 53,000 cases contain fraudulent claims and how many may have been filed accurately. The bar has NOT determined the full scope. No federal criminal charges have been announced. The civil lawsuits are ongoing.

The central unresolved question: for the clients who received work permits on fraudulent applications without their knowledge, what happens to their immigration status now? Attorneys representing Lozano's former clients haven't gotten a clear answer from federal agencies, according to the Associated Press.