I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 10452 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit certain types of fraud 

in the provision of immigration services, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 17, 2024 

Ms. ESCOBAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit certain 

types of fraud in the provision of immigration services, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fight Notario Fraud 

5 Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FRAUD PROHIBITED. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 47 of title 18, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing new section: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1041. Schemes to defraud persons in any matter 

2 arising under immigration laws 

3 ‘‘(a) FRAUD.—Any person who knowingly executes a 

4 scheme or artifice, in connection with any matter author5 ized by or arising under the immigration laws, or any mat6 ter that such person claims or represents is authorized by 

7 or arises under the immigration laws to— 

8 ‘‘(1) defraud any other person; or 

9 ‘‘(2) obtain or receive money or anything else of 

10 value from any other person by means of false or 

11 fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, 

12 shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 

13 1 year, or both. 

14 ‘‘(b) MISREPRESENTATION.—Any person who know15 ingly makes a false representation that such person is an 

16 attorney or an accredited representative (as such term is 

17 defined under section 1292.1(a)(4) of title 8, Code of Fed18 eral Regulations (or any successor regulation)) in any 

19 matter arising under the immigration laws shall be fined 

20 under this title, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both. 

21 ‘‘(c) THREATS AND RETALIATION.—Any person who 

22 violates subsection (a) and knowingly— 

23 ‘‘(1) threatens to report another person to Fed24 eral authorities or State law enforcement authorities 

25 working in conjunction with or pursuant to Federal 

26 authority; 


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1 ‘‘(2) acts to adversely affect another person’s 

2 immigration status, perceived immigration status, or 

3 attempts to secure immigration status that— 

4 ‘‘(A) impacts or results in the removal of 

5 the person from the United States; 

6 ‘‘(B) leads to the loss of immigration sta7 tus; or 

8 ‘‘(C) causes the person seeking to apply for 

9 an immigration benefit to lose an opportunity 

10 to apply for such an immigration benefit that 

11 would have provided immigration status and for 

12 which a person was prima facie eligible; or 

13 ‘‘(3) demands or retains money or anything else 

14 of value for services fraudulently performed or not 

15 performed or withholds or threatens to withhold 

16 services promised to be performed, 

17 shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 

18 1 year, or both. 

19 ‘‘(d) GRAVITY OF OFFENSE.— 

20 ‘‘(1) CUMULATIVE LOSS.—Any person who vio21 lates subsection (a), (b), or (c) such that the cumu22 lative loss to all victims exceeds $10,000 may be im23 prisoned not more than 3 years, fined under this 

24 title, or both. 


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1 ‘‘(2) RETALIATION.—Any person who violates 

2 subsection (a) or (b) and causes the harm described 

3 in subsection (c)(2) may be imprisoned not more 

4 than 3 years, fined under this title, or both. 

5 ‘‘(e) INFORMATION SHARING AND ENFORCEMENT.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

7 shall— 

8 ‘‘(A) establish procedures to receive com9 plaints of fraudulent immigration schemes from 

10 the public that are consistent with the proce11 dures for receiving complaints of unfair immi12 gration-related employment practices in place 

13 on the date of the enactment of the Fight 

14 Notario Fraud Act of 2024; 

15 ‘‘(B) report, on an annual basis, to the 

16 Senate Committee on the Judiciary and House 

17 Committee on the Judiciary the number of com18 pleted prosecutions undertaken pursuant to 

19 subsections (a), (b), and (c), including a de20 scription of the case and outcome, relevant de21 mographic and linguistic information, and any 

22 immigration consequences suffered by the vic23 tims involved; and 

24 ‘‘(C) maintain and publish on the internet, 

25 information in commonly spoken languages 


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1 other than English, including Spanish, Man2 darin, Korean, and Tagalog, on how to identify, 

3 prevent, and report instances of fraud described 

4 in subsections (a), (b), and (c). 

5 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

7 shall establish no fewer than 15 Special United 

8 States Attorney positions in districts the Attor9 ney General determines to be most affected by 

10 the fraud described in subsections (a), (b), and 

11 (c), to investigate and prosecute allegations of 

12 fraud described in subsections (a), (b), and (c) 

13 and should resources permit any other con14 sumer protection laws under this chapter. 

15 ‘‘(B) LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE.—With re16 spect to the Special United States Attorney po17 sitions under subparagraph (A), the Attorney 

18 General shall consider the linguistic competency 

19 of a prosecutor appointed to serve in such a po20 sition to ensure that the prosecutor may effec21 tively prosecute cases involving non-English 

22 speaking victims and witnesses. 

23 ‘‘(3) RESTITUTION.—There shall be deposited 

24 in the Crime Victims Fund established under section 

25 1402 of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (34 


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1 U.S.C. 20101) any restitution ordered for an offense 

2 under this section if the victim of such offense can3 not reasonably be located. 

4 ‘‘(f) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this section, 

5 or the application of such a provision to any person or 

6 circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder 

7 of this section and the application of the remaining provi8 sions of this section to any person or circumstance shall 

9 not be affected thereby. 

10 ‘‘(g) IMMIGRATION LAWS.—In this section, the term 

11 ‘immigration laws’ has the meaning given that term in sec12 tion 101(a)(17) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

13 (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(17)).’’. 

14 (b) INJUNCTION AGAINST FRAUD.—Section 1345 of 

15 title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

16 end the following new subsection: 

17 ‘‘(c) If a person is violating or about to violate this 

18 chapter or chapter 47 of this title, the Attorney General 

19 may commence a civil action in any Federal court to en20 join such violation.’’. 

21 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

22 for chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

23 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘1041. Schemes to defraud persons in any matter arising under immigration 

laws.’’. 

Æ 


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