Information on Immigration Law

Defending Immigrants' Rights: The ILRC is part of the national Defending Immigrants Project, whose purpose is to ensure that indigent noncitizens who are accused of crimes receive due process and adequate representation in their hearings. The ILRC has created free resources such as the Quick Reference Chart for determining immigration consequences of California convictions, and provides materials, technical assistance and training to immigration and criminal law practitioners.

National. The ILRC is responding to the crisis created by 1996 antiimmigration legislation that targeted elderly immigrants and those with disabilities. We provide technical assistance and training to service providers on how to help their clients become U.S. citizens. Our staff attorneys conduct onsite workshops around the country. We also have a telephone hotline and write and distribute materials on the naturalization process. California. The ILRC provides technical assistance and information on the issues of naturalization, family unity, and the effects of recent laws to immigrant advocates and organizations throughout California. In the state's Central Valley, the ILRC is a partner in a collaborative effort that encourages citizenship and access to English language instruction. These projects promote civic participation and leadership development among California's immigrants. Community Meetings. Here are the ILRC's immigration information packets in Spanish and English. We have produced them PDF and Microsoft Word formats so that you can adapt them to use in your community.

Advocating for Children: Through a unique project, the ILRC helps abused and abandoned immigrant children in foster care become permanent U.S. residents. The ILRC consults with juvenile court judges, county workers, and children’s advocates working on “special immigrant juvenile status” (SIJS) petitions. We work regionally and nationally to promote humane treatment for all immigrant children.

Immigration Relief For Survivors Of Domestic Violence And Other Crimes: The ILRC offers practice manuals, written resources, training courses and technical support on Violence Against Women Act relief for immigrants who are being abused by the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident family members.  We also conduct extensive outreach designed to educate battered immigrants about the availability of heath and immigration related benefits. To this end, we work to establish local networks of domestic violence service providers including shelter workers, attorneys, health care workers and law enforcement personnel.

As a national expert on U nonimmigrant status for immigrant victims of crime, the ILRC offers a comprehensive practitioners manual entitled, The U Visa, conducts numerous live and webinar trainings, supports policy and advocacy and technical assistance to immigration practitioners on individual cases.

Relief for Central American Refugees: The November 1997 enactment of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) created significant hope for hundreds of thousands of Central American refugees who were stranded in the U.S. without legal residency after fleeing their war-torn countries in the 1980s. ILRC provides seminars, informational videos, phone, email and fax consultation, a manual: Winning NACARA Suspension Cases, updates on policy and regulation changes and sample pleadings to inform pro bono attorneys and legal service providers about this form of relief for Salvadorans and Guatemalans and to assist them in making use of it for their clients.

Training Nonprofit Service Providers: The ILRC designed and coordinates an intensive national training program on basic immigration law and practice for nonprofit staff and paralegals who provide high quality legal services to low income immigrants. Our staff attorneys update the curriculum, and work with a national network of trainers to stage the 40-hour course in cities throughout the United States.