Trump administration<\/a> last year started overhauling the humanitarian programs Lozano allegedly exploited, claiming a surge in applications since 2020 was a sign of widespread fraud. The administration tightened the programs’ restrictions and slowed processing rates, which advocacy groups say will hurt legitimate victims.<\/p>\nLozano specialized in getting visas through the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which covers all genders.<\/p>\n
These programs seek to protect victims from having their immigration status weaponized by abusers. Evidence standards are more flexible, making the system more accessible to victims. But it’s also easier for an unscrupulous firm to exploit, immigration attorneys say.<\/p>\n
Lozano’s firm probed clients for issues at home or work, then spun them as abuse cases that didn’t meet the threshold for these humanitarian programs, according to attorneys representing dozens of her old clients.<\/p>\n
Although clients quickly secured work permits, they often faced trouble years later when seeking permanent residency and their claims faced greater scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Angelo Calfo, an attorney representing Lozano, said clients were expected to review their applications before signing and blamed them for any false statements.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlexandra\u2019s 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,\u201d his statement said.<\/p>\n
The bar accused Lozano of fraud in May and her firm shut down June 10. She\u2019s being investigated by the fraud unit of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press. The Department of Homeland Security, which runs the immigration agency, declined to comment. <\/p>\n
At least 920 immigration service scams were reported in 2025, which is more than the first three years of the Biden administration combined, according to Federal Trade Commission data analyzed by the AP. Experts say that’s probably an undercount, given immigrants\u2019 reluctance to come forward.<\/p>\n
Lozano is accused of enlisting hundreds of employees in Colombia, Mexico and Argentina to provide legal advice to clients and handle visa applications. That would mean clients never got consultations from a U.S.-licensed attorney.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlexandra was telling us to please invent more information about the abuse because it is not real abuse,\u201d said Rafael Alvarez, who worked for Lozano from 2022 to 2024 in Colombia. \u201cThere were a lot of cases that were not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lozano’s former chief operating officer, Amy Rios, testified in 2024 that the firm earned $1.7 million teaching other law firms its legal strategies for humanitarian visas and \u201cchanged the way many attorneys now approach immigration law.\u201d <\/p>\n
Recent lawsuits accuse at least two other firms in Texas and Ohio of replicating Lozano\u2019s tactics, which they deny.<\/p>\n
Erika Sanchez and her husband entered the U.S. unlawfully. Multiple lawyers told them there was no way to adjust their status from within the country.<\/p>\n
But Lozano promised a successful outcome after just one consultation in 2020, according to a lawsuit the couple filed in May alongside seven other former clients. <\/p>\n
The couple trusted the firm when it asked for their signatures on blank paper, Sanchez said, and lived on a tight budget to pay Lozano more than $32,000. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe truly did believe that she was doing the right thing,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n
She added that they never saw the application submitted by the firm for her husband, which they later learned contained false claims that his teenage daughter abused him. He is now in removal proceedings. <\/p>\n
Some former clients say they didn’t discover the alleged fraud for years. Nora Murillo Moreno said the firm told her about the fake abuse claims on the day before her green card interview. She panicked. <\/p>\n
\u201cShould I say what really happened, or what is written?\u201d Murillo Moreno said. \u201cI knew things didn\u2019t match.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attorneys suing Lozano say her rise parallels an exponential increase in visa applications for trafficking and domestic abuse cases.<\/p>\n
Domestic abuse claims more than tripled between the 2020 and 2025 fiscal years, from nearly 15,000 applications to upward of 53,000 per year, according to immigration agency data. There were also nearly twelve times as many applications from parents alleging their child abused them.<\/p>\n
During that same period, human trafficking claims jumped from around 1,000 applications to more than 37,000. <\/p>\n
In December, the immigration agency said it would overhaul its domestic violence visa program due to \u201crampant fraud” based on the increase in filings, without offering other evidence. The changes include narrowing definitions of abuse and giving greater weight to evidence supplied by alleged abusers. <\/p>\n
Cecelia Levin, an attorney with the nonprofit Alliance for Immigrant Survivors, said making these visas harder for actual abuse victims isn’t the answer. Instead, the Trump administration should focus on enforcing the law against attorneys running scams, she said.<\/p>\n
Immigration attorneys say Lozano\u2019s social media was filled with red flags, like claiming the Virgin Mary blessed all her cases.<\/p>\n
In 2023, the Washington bar said it had concerns about Lozano\u2019s law practice but dismissed an ethics complaint against her on the grounds that she was protected by disclaimers, according to a document obtained by the AP. The complaint alleged deceptive advertising and other misconduct.<\/p>\n
Sara Niegowski, a spokesperson for the bar, said it blocked Lozano from practicing law \u201cas quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former clients are now scrambling to get their case files from the defunct firm. Hundreds showed up for recent consultations with volunteer attorneys in Washington and Oregon.<\/p>\n
Many applied to join a lawsuit seeking financial compensation for legal malpractice. Another class action lawsuit aims to recoup their attorney fees. <\/p>\n
Vicente Omar Barraza, an attorney behind the malpractice lawsuit, said hundreds of former clients told him they still don’t know what Lozano’s firm wrote in their applications. He\u2019s worried many people lost viable pathways to legal status.<\/p>\n
Garcia Martinez, who says his mother is in removal proceedings because Lozano mishandled her case, lives every day in fear that she will be deported.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just praying really, really, really hard for her,\u201d Garcia Martinez said. \u201cNone of this should have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Associated Press writer Jesse Bedayn in Austin, Texas, and data journalist Aaron Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
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