Woman faces eight felony charges in immigration fraud case

Chattanooga immigration advocates say a 47-year-old businesswoman has been defrauding local undocumented people by taking their money, pretending to work with attorneys, forging important court documents and hurting their overall chances of obtaining citizenship.

And prosecutors have taken notice.

After three indictments earlier this summer, Norma Ferrer faces eight felonies in Hamilton County Criminal Court related to her charges of forgery, theft of property, criminal simulation and impersonation of a licensed professional.

Ferrer, who runs a company that fills out forms for undocumented immigrants and is affiliated with a Caribbean restaurant-club on Dodds Avenue, told Judge Barry Steelman on Friday she needed more time to hire an attorney. She hasn’t entered a plea yet and could not be reached for comment at listed phone numbers for Mango’s Island Bar and Grill and Ferrer’s Multiservices. Both businesses on Friday were closed, locked and appeared empty.

According to her indictment and three immigration attorneys, Ferrer has preyed on members of the local undocumented population for at least a year.

Attorney Hector Olivencia said he received a strange phone call in February from a minor who’d crossed the Mexico border, faced a deportation order and claimed to be Olivencia’s client. There was just one problem: Olivencia had never spoken to this minor before, and a review of his office records confirmed as much.

Hoping to settle the confusion, Olivencia said he arranged a meeting. The minor’s family came with documents, one of which was an invoice for Olivencia’s services. But Olivencia immediately noticed the logo on the invoice didn’t match the logo he used on his website, and he pressed for answers.

The family told him a woman named Norma Ferrer gave it to them, Olivencia said. Olivencia’s next phone call was to the East Ridge Police Department. After more digging, Olivencia said he learned other immigration attorneys had encountered similar stories and that local investigations were underway.

In the fall of 2017, immigration attorney Brittany Faith said she pieced together a separate story involving a Guatemalan woman in her early 30s who faced deportation proceedings in the Memphis immigration court.

That spring, Faith said, the woman linked up with Ferrer, who said she was working with Faith. But Ferrer made excuses about why Faith could never meet up. Faith was sick, she had to go to court, she canceled.

“It kind of made me seem like a crazy person,” Faith said.

Initially, Ferrer claimed the woman needed to pay her $1,500 just to retain Faith, Faith said. Then she requested another $1,500, saying Faith would only get her a new check-in date with ICE for that amount of money. That didn’t sound right to the woman, who called Faith directly.

“Norma Ferrer would say, ‘Oh, she doesn’t speak English and she doesn’t have an interpreter. But I do have an interpreter, and I do speak Spanish,” Faith said.

There were other problems.

The woman, now Faith’s client, had missed a court date in 2017, which prompted a deportation order. At the time, Ferrer filed paperwork on her behalf asking the judge to reopen the case and change his mind, Faith said. But she changed a response to show that government attorneys agreed with the woman’s argument when, in fact, they did not, Faith said.

“She had taken what the real response was and altered it,” Faith said.

Beyond the obvious issues of forgery and deception, Faith said, Ferrer is ruining people’s chances of properly litigating strong immigration claims. Had the woman followed Ferrer’s advice, given her $1,500, and gone to her ICE check-in without a licensed attorney, Faith said, there’s a very good chance she would have already been deported to Guatemala.

“[ICE agents are] taking them in now when they come for visits,” Faith said. “So every time you go to the ICE office you need to be fully prepared and have your case well taken care of and show that you’re trying to stay in the U.S. Because they’re doing their enforcement part.”

Faith said her client is now fully cooperating with authorities.

Though a grand jury returned indictments against her on June 2, Ferrer wasn’t arrested until July 23, court records show. She posted about $8,000 bond two days later and has since been spotted at the ICE office, immigration attorneys said.

“I have heard from what I consider to be a very reputable source that she’s been back at the ICE office as recently as yesterday [Wednesday],” said attorney Martin Lester, who added that law enforcement contacted him earlier this year to ask whether materials Ferrer had provided to one of her victims claiming to be from his firm were actually from him. They weren’t, he said. “What exactly she was doing [at the ICE office], I don’t know,” he said. “But it’s hard to think of any sort of legitimate reason she would be down there.”