Immigration Services Crack Down & More Disaster Counties

Immigration Services Crack Down & More Disaster Counties. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced yesterday that his office is taking action to combat illegal immigration services and crack down on "notario" fraud. Ferguson announced the actions are part of an initiative to increase enforcement of Washington's consumer protection laws against unauthorized immigration assistance.

FERGUSON: This type of fraud preys on vulnerable consumers who are seeking assistance on complex immigration issues. The consequences in these cases can truly be dire. The impact to the consumer is significant because they are losing money. They've been scammed out of some money. But the consequences can be so dire because there's an added element to it. If a deadline is missed on the filing of their immigration papers or if paperwork is incorrectly filled out that can cause an immigrant to lose his or her legal status in this country.

USDA has designated Clallam County in Washington and Multnomah County in Oregon as a primary natural disaster area due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Farmers and ranchers in Jefferson County in Washington and Clackamas, Columbia, Hood River and Washington counties in Oregon also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their county is contiguous. The designation makes all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency loans from USDA's Farm Service Agency, provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.