L.A. County to require licenses for immigration consultants

Moving to crack down on scam artists, Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to require immigration consultants working in unincorporated areas of the county to be licensed. The consultants, sometimes referred to as "notarios," are not attorneys. But some offer legal services and charge high rates. Because notary publics in Latin America are roughly equivalent to lawyers, immigrants often do not realize that in the United States they are only authorized to witness signatures and authenticate documents, said Supervisor Hilda Solis, who proposed the enforcement program along with Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. "I've spoken with numerous families who have been for years paying dollar after dollar without making any progress on their immigration matters," Solis said.