Colorado now requires notary publics who serve the Spanish-speaking community to tell their clients they cannot practice immigration law - unless they actually are.
A bill signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper on Friday is meant to protect Spanish-speaking immigrants from unknowingly hiring non-attorneys to represent them in immigration matters.
It requires "notarios," or notary publics, to advertise that they cannot practice immigration law unless they actually are authorized to do so.
Violators will face civil fines.
Notarios are attorneys in many Latin American countries. But Colorado attorneys say some take advantage of Spanish-speaking immigrants by claiming to be able to represent them in U.S. legal matters.
