Immigration scams surge as Trump’s sweeps lure desperate people to eager defrauders

Con artists posing as ICE agents use WhatsApp, fake court hearings to bilk vulnerable people out of their savings Published May 2, 2026 6:00AM (EDT) In this handout photo provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the New York City Fugitive Operations Team conducted targeted enforcement operations resulting in the arrest of a Dominican national on January 28, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Getty Images) This article originally appeared on ProPublica. As an asylum-seeker living in the U.S., Jasmir Urbina worried as she watched violence break out amid the military-style immigration sweeps across the country. Then she read about legal residents being arrested at immigration court and wondered when federal agents would set their sights on her city. Urbina had fled Nicaragua in 2022 and legally resided with her husband, a fellow asylum-seeker, in New Orleans while reporting to immigration agents for check-ins as she awaited her day in court. Finally, the date was approaching, in late November 2025. Days later, the Trump administration would flood the region with federal officers in “Operation Swamp Sweep.” Urbina, 35, began searching for a Spanish speaker who could help her, and said she stumbled on a Facebook