For decades now, immigrants' rights advocates have decried the practices of unlicensed notaries public that they believe prey upon those living illegally in the United States. In Spanish, they are known as notarios, but they are not specific to the Latino community, and many of them have scammed untold numbers of unsuspecting victims out of money and caused legal problems for those they serve.

Anywhere from 9 to 12 million undocumented immigrants live in this country, depending on which expert you ask. In a city such as Los Angeles, where 40.9% of the population was born in another country, the abundant supply of immigrant customers is the perfect temptation for notarios to take up shop.

"Just as liquor stores are everywhere in working class communities, so are notaries," said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, director of community education and public affairs at the Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA).

Notarios are not simply notaries, but jacks-of-all-trades that perform services ranging from income tax and immigration paperwork preparation to officiating quickie weddings and assisting with divorces.

According to authorities, the most egregious offenses have occurred in the improper immigration law counseling given by many notarios. Notaries public are licensed by the state to authenticate documents and verify the identities of parties signing official documents, and are not authorized by state law to give any type of legal advice.  

Notarios owe their success at least in part to a sort of cultural misunderstanding of the title itself. In Latin America, notario usually denotes a person with legal training who is authorized to give legal counsel, leading many to entrust their immigration paperwork to notarios.

"If I'm an immigrant, recently arrived in the United States, and I'm walking down the streets and I see a sign in an office that says, 'notario', I interpret that sign as someone that is authorized to practice law, and that can meet my needs in terms of legal advice and legal counseling," said Salvador Sanabria, executive director of El Rescate, a non-profit legal services organization.

Sanabria believes there are notarios who are aware of the difference in meaning and exploit it, taking advantage of many immigrants desperate to legalize their status. He said his office has encountered cases where notarios have posed as attorneys, which has led to what he said are thousands of individuals having legal problems.

Gloria Suazo, a notario who has been working out of the same Sunset Boulevard office in Los Angeles for the last 20 years, understands how easy it can be to fall victim to a notario. "They come from [other countries] and they don't know anything at all...They are brainwashed - oh, you could use false papers, you could use this. It's kind of like survival," she said.

Like many who make the miles-long journey on foot from their native countries to a place they see as an opportunity for a better life, she suffered from the stigma of being an immigrant after she emigrated from her native country of Honduras in 1971.  

"I entered illegally...and I suffered for five years. At that time, in the 70s, it wasn't illegal to hire an illegal alien and still it was tough for me. I had to clean houses until I got accustomed to this country," she said.

Suazo, however, distances herself from the shady practices of some of her colleagues. She prominently displays a sign in her office that explicitly states in both English and Spanish that she is not an attorney, and she said is a paralegal and makes sure to stay up-to-date with the latest in immigration law. Suazo said she works diligently to earn - and keep - her clients' trust.

"I tell them: I don't give advice, I don't give legal advice. I give you instructions, information as per immigration instructions on the form. And they appreciate it," Suazo said.

Despite the reputation notarios have garnered, Suazo believes she is providing a valuable service to the community. She has certificates of appreciation given to her by the City of Los Angeles and photos of her participating in local parades hanging on the walls of her office.

Even if there are notarios making a good-faith effort to help immigrants, Los Angeles-based attorney Vera Weisz said they do not have the sufficient training to correctly complete an immigration application.

"Applications are filled out often with no information whatsoever; the information is totally incorrect. They don't bother to actually interview the person," she said.

Weisz also said that immigration law is an incredibly complex and evolving field - one that requires extensive training to understand. "I could tell you that after 30 years, I myself just knock my head against the wall sometimes."

Cabrera said notarios do fulfill a role within immigrant communities that well-trained legal professionals cannot provide. "Often attorneys are very expensive. They are unapproachable. Often they don't speak the language. They are not culturally sensitive to the needs of the community," he said.

Weisz believes Suazo's approach may still be in violation of the law. "'How did you enter the United States?' That is a very simple question. It has terrific, huge legal implications... If the person filling out the form is helping you in any way figure out what answer to give on that one, that in itself is legal advice."

Los Angeles City Attorney, Rocky Delgadillo, began a program in 2003 called the Immigration Fraud Task Force. The aim of the task force is to reduce criminal activity by notaries.  Delgadillo's office offers a hotline for the public to report fraudulent notaries.

The city attorney has successfully prosecuted approximately 50 cases of notary fraud since 2003, said Jenaro Batiz, spokesman for Delgadillo. Notaries are charged with misdemeanors, he said, and may receive penalties including fines in the thousands of dollars, summary probation, a period of incarceration in county jail, and shuttering of the individual's notary business.

The difficulty in prosecuting notarios, Cabrera said, is the fact that there often are no witnesses to the crime.

"By the time someone does file a complaint...that person may already be deported so it is very, very difficult. We do have some systems for protecting people's rights however when it comes to fraud and undocumented families. Often those protections come too late."

Batiz said the hotline and assistance from the public has helped to bring fraudulent notaries to light, but that doling out justice can take time.

"It's an ongoing effort," said Batiz.