Lawyers for the workers allege immigration consultant took advantage of the confusion spawned by numerous immigration policy changes during the pandemic
Dozens of migrant workers in Vancouver have allegedly been defrauded of thousands of dollars by an immigration consultant who promised the workers permanent residency through a federal immigration program that the workers say did not exist.
Ms. Lucion has repeatedly maintained her innocence, arguing that she was merely trying to help workers navigate the complexity of a slew of new federal immigration programs that were introduced during the pandemic to boost immigration levels. “At the same time,” she said, “there were many low-income, vulnerable workers with expiring permits, who were trying to understand if they were eligible to qualify for any one of these programs.”
“She did not refer to the program by any specific name. She just said that it was for people who were stranded because of COVID, and all of us could obtain a work permit no matter if we were visitors, students, if we had legal status or if we had lost it,” Mr. Medellin said. At the time, Mr. Medellin did not have a work permit and was desperate to find a way to remain in Canada.
Mr. Medellin alleges that Ms. Lucion became less responsive after he had paid her the money, barely answering texts and WhatsApp messages when he started enquiring about the status of his application. Then in April, 2021, someone on a Facebook group called “Mexicanos en Vancouver” posted a warning that Ms. Lucion and her company were perpetrating a scam targeting Mexicans in Canada.
Ms. Lucion argued that the program she was helping clients navigate did exist – it was an August, 2020 temporary pandemicthat allowed certain visitors in Canada to apply for an employer-specific work permit. Ms. Lucion also said that there was an immigration program in place at the time that permitted eligible applicants who fell out of status from January 30, 2020 to May 31, 2021, to restore their lost status.
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