New York, NY —

The New York Attorney General's office says it's keeping a close watch on rogue immigration consultants who claim to be helping Haitians apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which would allow them to work legally for at least 18 months.

Attorney Alphonso David says his team in the civil rights bureau has now subpoenaed records from at least six immigration consultants with Haitian customers. There are no charges filed yet, but he says these consultants are taking too much money for services they're not qualified to provide, and cheating Haitians out of the chance to become legal.

David says one woman told his office she had paid several thousand dollars to a company that promised to help but couldn’t deliver.

“She recently received notification from the federal government that the application was rejected because they failed to complete the paperwork properly. And they have refused to provide her with a refund,” David says.

More than one in 10 TPS applications are rejected by the government simply because the forms weren’t filled out correctly.

And over 47,000 Haitians in the country illegally have applied for TPS so they can get a work permit and help their families recover from the earthquake.