Areas of Expertise

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) immigration attorneys’ expertise focuses on family-based immigration, humanitarian relief, naturalization and citizenship, immigration enforcement, and removal defense.

Since 1979 we have helped expand the immigration expertise of attorneys, nonprofit staff, criminal defenders, and others assisting immigrant clients.

In addition to authoring the ILRC’s practice manuals, our expert attorneys have been published by Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), ILW.com, Huffington Post, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Center for Law and Social Policy, The Hill, LexisNexis Emerging Issues, and Fox News Latino.
 
We have also provided training to National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), American Bar Association Commission on Immigration, Federal Bar Association, The State Bar of California, Legal Aid Association of California, Judicial Council of California and more.

Family Separations Will Continue Despite Trump Executive Order, Until Overzealous Prosecutions and Detention End, Says ILRC

For Immediate Release: June 20, 2018
Contact: Marie McIntosh, mmcintosh@ilrc.org, (978) 500-2748

Family Separations Will Continue Despite Trump Executive Order, Until Overzealous Prosecutions and Detention End, Says Immigrant Legal Resource Center

Every family should have a Family Preparedness Plan. While it is our hope that you never have to use your plan, it is a good practice to have one in place to help reduce the stress of the unexpected. This step-by-step guide will help you create a plan for your children in the event you are not available to care for them.
This toolkit is aimed at providing you–the advocate– with the tools to provide valuable know your rights (KYR) information. This toolkit will teach you how to do a KYR presentation, including everything from the logistics of organizing an event to the substantive topics you should cover. If all you want to do is learn how to put together a KYR presentation, you can review the section Nuts & Bolts: Putting Together a KYR Presentation. If you would like a deeper and more substantive discussion of certain KYR topics (not necessary for everyone), please reference the section Deep Dive: KYR Substantive Topics. This toolkit is aimed at California audiences and contains advice that is California-specific.
The domestic violence deportation ground at INA § 237(a)(2)(E) sets out four bases for deportability. Recent Board of Immigration Appeals and federal decisions, including the Supreme Court decision in Sessions v. Dimaya, significantly affect each of the four bases. This advisory will provide a brief overview of the deportation ground, and then outline the recent decisions and how they may affect representation in California and the Ninth Circuit. It includes an appendix analyzing common California offenses as crimes of violence.
Are you thinking about helping detained immigrants? It’s time to get your feet wet. This guide talks you through the initial basic steps to support someone requesting from bond from the immigration judge. This guide includes simple steps to get you started, including how to find your client and what to present to the court.
This advisory discusses how the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) protect children of permanent residents in their applications for permanent residency. We discuss how a child’s age is calculated and how they might move through different preference categories through their process to become residents.

Unconscionable to Not Redesignate Yemen, Home to One of World’s Worst Humanitarian Crises, for TPS Protection

For Immediate Release: July 5, 2018
Contact: Courtney Holsworth, courtney@balestramedia.com, (989) 572-8162

Unconscionable to Not Redesignate Yemen, Home to One of World’s Worst Humanitarian Crises, for TPS Protection, Says Immigrant Legal Resource Center

New Memo: Trump Administration Plan to Initiate Removal Proceedings Against a Larger Number of Immigrants will Cause More Panic and Fear

For Immediate Release: July 5, 2018
Contact: Christina DiPasquale, christina@balestramedia.com, (202) 716-1953

New Memo: Trump Administration Plan to Initiate Removal Proceedings Against a Larger Number of Immigrants will Cause More Panic and Fear, Says Immigrant Legal Resource Center

A brief summary of recent court precedents that analyze the limits of the federal government’s power to tell states how to regulate, and what this means for 8 USC § 1373. One court so far has found 8 USC § 1373 unconstitutional, and others are pending. These cases mean that a key anti-sanctuary weapon of the federal government may be struck down by the courts, and communities may be legally able to stop any communication with ICE and CBP.
This practice advisory addresses the impact of drug trafficking on unaccompanied minor (UC) cases by looking at overall drug trafficking patterns within UC cases, identifying the substantive and procedural issues that may arise when UC with drug trafficking histories pursue immigration relief, and drawing parallels to other bodies of law to provide practitioners with recommendations for use in the immigration context. This advisory discusses how children impacted by drug trafficking issues are able or unable to access legal relief and the challenges they face before DHS and immigration courts. It aims to provide practitioners with strategies to most effectively overcome these challenges in defending youth who have been involved in drug trafficking against deportation and to obtain immigration legal relief on their behalf.
Every year, millions of people wait for Congress to advance a solution that would provide stability for undocumented persons and their families. The numbers left waiting and worrying without a pathway to citizenship, protection from deportation, or the ability to work under the Trump Administration has only increased with the limitations on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for certain countries.
This webinar, hosted on July 13, 2018 by ASISTA and ILRC, is intended only for advocates and attorneys who work advancing the rights of immigrants, and is not for media attribution. Panelists discuss how this updated guidance vastly expands the circumstances in which USCIS will issue NTAs, what this means for humanitarian cases like VAWA self-petitions, U and T visas, as well as strategies for advocacy. If you are interested in accessing the recording, please contact Cecelia Friedman Levin, cecelia@asistahelp.org, or Alison Kamhi, akamhi@ilrc.org