H&R Block Out of Immigration Business
David Noriega at Buzzfeed reports that immigration lawyers pressured H&R Block, the tax preparation giant, to shut down a pilot program to help immigrants file forms with the U.S. government. The program, which was limited to Texas and aimed at the Latino community there, gave immigrant customers access to specialized software that would help them with applications for green cards, deferred action, and other immigration-related matters.
State and federal laws strictly limit who can provide legal advice to immigrants, however, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) said H&R Block’s program ran afoul of those restrictions and would have put immigrant consumers at risk of harm, because they could wind up filing inaccurate information or applying for programs they weren’t eligible for.
KJ