COURT RULES AGAINST ALICIA CASTRO, AWARDS $500,000 IN DAMAGES, ATTY'S FEES; $300,000 BOND FOR HER TO APPEAL

By Juan Montoya

A local notary public has been permanently enjoined from doing immigration-related business and ordered to pay nearly $500,000 in actual and exemplary damages and attorneys fees and to post a $300,000 bond in case she decides to appeal the judgement.

Visiting Judge Manuel Banales issued his final judgment April 28 in the case Patricia Jaramillo Barrera vs. Alicia Castro DBA as Alicia Castro Income Tax Notary Public Services and DBA Castro Notary Services.

According to the facts listed in the judgment Jaramillo was referred to Alicia Castro who was assisted by her husband Erasmo and other employees in translating immigration forms and letters from English to Spanish and then in acquiring other forms from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) online website and assisted her in filling them and sending them.

Jaramillo paid them in excess of $1,000, only to find out that one of the forms they chose for her to fill out and submit was not the correct form and she was turned down in her application.

The court found that in addition to providing income-tax and notary public services, the Castros and their assistants "engaged in the business of providing assistance to persons who sought to obtain immigration visas, permanent residency, and lawful status in this country...Defendant and her employers selected and completed immigration forms for (Jaramillo) to sign and submit."

Castro testified that she and her employees interviewed (clients) and filled immigration forms for them according to the instructions on the USCIS website. She and her employees decided which forms they were qualified to submit. Some of the forms contained  clerical mistakes.

However, one form in particular selected by Castro or her employees for Jaramillo was Form I-601, an application for Waiver of Grounds for Inadmissibility where the woman claimed that her inadmissibility would cause hardship for a qualifying relative such as a spouse or parent.

The Castros had her list her daughter, who was a non-qualifying relative even though she was a citizen. The USCIS  denied her I-160 application and , when she appealed through the notary, she was also denied. 

In issuing the permanent injunction, Banales found that Castro was practicing immigration law without a law license, and translating immigration forms and directions on the INS website, advising clients how to respond to immigration questionnaires on forms and coaching them on how to answer officers on interviews.

"The defendants and her employees selected the forms for the plaintiffs, checked the USCIS website to located forms and instructions in filling the forms, and obviously counseled (Jamarillo) on what forms to submit. By engaging in providing assistance...to obtain lawful status ad residency in the manner and means shown by the evidence, it is clear (Castro) engaged in the unauthorized practice of law to the detriment of (Jaramillo)"...and was a proximate cause of her application for lawful status and residency being denied and her appeal of that decision also being denied."

Banales found that Castro, her husband Erasmo and her staff and/or their agents committed a breach in their fiduciary duty not to practice immigration law without a license, conspired to practice law, engaged in deceptive trade practices, committed common-law fraud by representing to Jaramillo that she was qualified to assist her to obtain lawful status and residency.

The permanent injunction applies to her husband, employees, contract workers, etc, and those of her family members who during proceedings she identified as working for her. (Erasmo Castro Jr., is the Castros' son. He resigned as a Brownsville Independent School District board member and is now a candidate for the Texas House of Representatives against Eddie Lucio III in the November general election. He was not a defendant in the case and is not specifically named in the judgment.)

The court also ruled that Jaramillo is entitled to damages from the defendants in the form of attorney's fees if the government seeks to have her deported as a result of the denial of her application through Castro's wrongful conduct.

The court awarded Jaramillo:

Actual Damages: $5,799.33

Mental Anguish: $30,000

Treble Damages: $107,337.99

Foreseeable Damages on Removal Procedures: $14,185.32

Total to Client: $157,302.32

Plus Attorneys's Fees: $338,135

TOTAL: $495, 437

Additionally, the court ordered that Castro post a $300,000 bond to secure appellate attorney fees for the plaintiff to defend against a motion for a new trail or appeal she might make as a result of the judgment.

Representing Jaramillo was attorney Marlene Dougherty who initially filed the lawsuit in 2017. Angela Nix defended the Castros.