Results

The 287(g) program allows designated local law enforcement .officers to enforce civil immigration law s According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the 287(g) program led to more than 7,000 deportations in 2018. 

Collected pages from a FOIA to ICE that relate to the 287(g) program.  Includes documents from all over the country, including 287(g) applications and needs assessments, emails about joining the program, MOAs, and other records.

The 287(g) program allows designated local law enforcement officers to enforce civil immigration laws. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the 287(g) program led to more than 7,000 deportations in 2018. 

This comment period has closed. Click here respond to the latest notice of proposed fee waiver rule change.

This community alert provides key information about upcoming changes to the fee waiver process, which allows some applicants to submit their immigration applications without having to pay the filing fee if they cannot afford it. In the coming months, one of the easiest and most straightforward ways of proving that you qualify for a fee waiver request will be going away. Find out more information about this upcoming change and submit your application now if you might qualify for a fee waiver!

This practice alert provides a brief overview of some of the main changes practitioners can expect with the proposed change to fee waiver eligibility and process, most significantly by eliminating receipt of means-tested benefits as a basis for requesting a fee waiver. Given that these significant changes to the fee waiver process will make it more difficult and time-intensive to establish inability to pay an immigration filing fee, we urge practitioners to advise clients who are eligible for a fee waiver based on receipt of means-tested benefits to apply as soon as possible, before this option is eliminated.

This resource, co-authored by the Immigrant Justice Network (IJN) and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), discusses how mandatory detention impacts individuals.  IJN is a network comprised of the ILRC, the Immigrant Defense Project (IDP), and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.

This resource, co-authored by the Immigrant Justice Network (IJN) and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), discusses the immigration consequences of discriminatory practices within the criminal legal system.  IJN is a network comprised of the ILRC, the Immigrant Defense Project (IDP), and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.

This resource, co-authored by the Immigrant Justice Network (IJN) and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), discusses the immigration consequences of discriminatory practices within the criminal legal system.  IJN is a network comprised of the ILRC, the Immigrant Defense Project (IDP), and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.

This resource, co-authored by the ILRC and United We Dream (UWD), compares the criminal and inadmissibility grounds for Titles I and II of the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 with DACA and TPS.

Deferred Action is a form of prosecutorial discretion that provides a work permit and relief from removal for two years to certain eligible undocumented youth. This fact sheet outlines the benefits of DACA, who is eligible and the requirements.

Starting in June 2019, Bexar County and San Antonio will implement "cite and release," a new administrative policy that seeks to reduce arrests. The policy directs law enforcement officers to use their discretion to issue citations for low-level, non-violent offenses.

FAQ about ICE’s newest model of 287(g), the Warrant Service Officer (WSO) program.

As the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies have increasingly come under scrutiny, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a division within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has played an increasingly significant role in carrying out brutal tactics to target immigrants for deportation. 

This advisory covers three possible immigration remedies that beneficiaries might be able to pursue if a family member dies during the immigration process.

Diversion refers to a variety of programs that seek to avoid the processing of a defendant through the traditional criminal legal system. The goal of diversion is to direct an individual who has been accused of a crime into a treatment or care program as an alternative to imprisonment and/or prosecution. 

This resource describes all of the documents that will help in proving the requirements and where to obtain them. Special thanks to our Spring 2013 law students, Andrew Briggs and Maria  Dominguez, for their efforts in helping create this resource.

Gubernatorial pardons have become an increasingly important and accessible tool for immigrants to erase certain immigration consequences of criminal convictions. This two-page primer, written in collaboration with the UCLA School of Law Criminal Defense Clinic and available in both English and Spanish, provides an overview of the California Pardon process for potential applicants and their advocates.  

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), any noncitizen who “within five years from the date of entry, has become a public charge from causes not affirmatively shown to have arisen since entry is deportable.” In current practice, this ground of deportability rarely comes up in pending removal proceedings or as a reason for the initiation of removal proceedings.

For noncitizens, even a low level offense like a shoplifting conviction can lead to mandatory deportation. However, this can be avoided when people secure post-conviction relief to erase or modify their old convictions. If the convictions are vacated, or the sentences reduced, the grounds for removal often evaporate.

On June 5, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a third notice regarding its plans to dramatically change fee waiver eligibility and process. The June 5 notice attempts to provide additional justification for its plan to eliminate means-tested benefits as a basis for requesting a fee waiver, among other changes, following April 5 and September 28 notices that lacked rationale for why such changes to fee waivers are justified. Now, USCIS is also claiming lost fee revenue as a reason for its proposed changes to fee waivers, making clear its intention to reduce the number of fee waivers that are granted. If finalized, these proposed changes will discourage eligible individuals from filing for fee waivers and immigration benefits and place heavy time and resource burdens on those who do still apply for fee waivers. 

Advocates and community members can work together to fight messages of fear and panic by helping community members learn about their rights and how to protect themselves from ICE. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center has created a variety of materials to educate the community and prepare individuals for possible encounters with immigration authorities.  

Over the last month, some practitioners have reported that USCIS has issued a number of NTAs in connection with denied U and T visa applications. Given these reports, ILRC, ASISTA, CAST, Freedom Network USA, American Association of Immigration Lawyers (AILA), and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles created a practice update to address some of the actions practitioners can take in individual cases as well as to support policy-level advocacy efforts.  

This advisory is the second in a two-part series on unlawful presence and unlawful presence waivers. This advisory covers the requirements and process for the provisional waiver, as well as updates and pitfalls to avoid in light of recent changes that have made pursuing the provisional waiver process more challenging. These include: State Department updates to public charge guidance and increased visa denials based on public charge inadmissibility at the consulate, Attorney General decisions in Matter of Castro-Tum and Matter of S-O-G & F-D-B- making it more difficult to pursue the provisional waiver in removal proceedings, heightened risk pursuing the conditional I-212 option as part of the provisional waiver expansion given updated enforcement priorities, and new considerations for preparing and filing provisional waiver cases in light of new USCIS policy memos on RFEs/NOIDs and Notices to Appear.

Noncitizen victims of violence, serious crimes, and persecution may be eligible for certain forms of immigration protection and status.  These options are often referred to as Humanitarian Forms of Relief.  They include: T nonimmigrant status, U nonimmigrant status, VAWA self-petition, asylum, and special immigrant juvenile status.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 confers initial jurisdiction over asylum claims filed by unaccompanied children (UCs) to the asylum office. The Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision in Matter of M-A-C-O-, as well as policy changes by the Trump administration have sought to strip away this crucial protection from many child asylum seekers. Because of these changes and legal challenges by immigrant youth advocates, the current landscape of initial UC asylum jurisdiction is in flux. This practice advisory provides an overview of the current state of UC asylum jurisdiction following the Matter of M-A-C-O- decision and issuance of the Lafferty Memo. It also discusses the ongoing JOP v. DHS litigation and gives some arguments and tips for practitioners to help them advocate for their UC clients to receive the statutory protections afforded by the TVPRA.