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.

Legal Listservs

Subscribe to an ILRC listserv to receive up-to-the-minute information for immigration legal service providers and public defenders on various areas of immigration law. The following terms and conditions (“Terms”) apply to all participants and communications shared on any ILRC legal listserv: https://ilrc.groups.io/g/main. We created these Terms to set the foundation for the community we hope to build. By accessing or participating in an ILRC legal listserv in any way, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

Cal. Pen. C. 1473.7 is a listserv for attorneys filing post-conviction relief motions to exchange best practices, model materials, and strategize about cases. To join the listserv, first send an email to main+subscribe@ILRC.groups.io and reply to the notification to join our listserv system; wait until you are approved, then email a request to 14737pcr+subscribe@ILRC.groups.io to join the Cal. Pen. C. 1473.7 list. Please check your spam folders if you don't see the follow-up notifications.

DACAExperts is a listserv for immigration legal services providers to discuss DACA issues and share resources. If you are a lawyer or legal worker involved in DACA cases, you can join our DACA Experts listserv to share questions, practices tips with other practitioners around the country, and receive updates on DACA. To join the listserv, first send an email to main+subscribe@ILRC.groups.io and reply to the notification to join our listserv system; wait until you are approved, then email a request to DACAExperts+subscribe@ILRC.groups.io to join the DACAExperts list. Please check your spam folders if you don't see the follow-up notifications.

Immigration Consequences of Delinquency is a listserv for immigration legal services providers and public defenders to discuss issues related to the immigration consequences of delinquency and share resources. If you are a lawyer or advocate working in the immigration or youth justice system, you can join this listserv to share questions and receive updates. To join the listserv, first send an email to main+subscribe@ILRC.groups.io and reply to the notification to join our listserv system; wait until you are approved, then email a request to immdelinquency+subscribe@ILRC.groups.io to join the Immigration Consequences of Delinquency lists. Please check your spam folders if you don't see the follow-up notifications.

N400N600 is a listserv for immigration legal services providers to discuss naturalization, acquisition/derivation, and other citizenship issues and share resources. If you are a lawyer or legal worker involved in naturalization or citizenship cases, you can join our listserv to share questions, practices tips with other practitioners around the country, and receive updates. To join the listserv, first send an email to main+subscribe@ILRC.groups.io and reply to the notification to join our listserv system; wait until you are approved, then email a request to N400N600+subscribe@ILRC.groups.io to join the N400N600 list. Please check your spam folders if you don't see the follow-up notifications.

ReadyBayArea is a listserv for Bay Area nonprofit organizations providing legal services, education, outreach and other services to the immigrant community in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. If you work at a nonprofit organization in the Greater Bay Area, you can join our Ready Bay Area listserv to share questions, information, and resources, and receive immigration updates. To join the listserv, first send an email to main+subscribe@ILRC.groups.io and reply to the notification to join our listserv system; wait until you are approved, then email a request to readybayarea+subscribe@ILRC.groups.io to join the ReadyBayArea list. Please check your spam folders if you don't see the follow-up notifications.

SIJS Taskforce Listserv is a listserv for practitioners and nonprofit organizations in Northern California focusing on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). It is a platform where taskforce members can share sample briefs, case law, relevant memos, and any other materials that are helpful to SIJS practice. Members can also solicit and share best practices for SIJS cases in the Bay Area and elsewhere in Northern California. Click here to request to join this listserv.

TPS Experts Listserv is for advocates and legal service providers to share information and resources about securing TPS benefits. We invite participants to share updates, identify best practices and trends, ask questions, and distribute resource materials related to TPS. While we hope participants will share their practice experience with others, there is no expectation that technical assistance will be provided on individual cases through this listserv. The list is intended to be a forum for discussion and exchange about TPSpractice and issues. Click here to request to join this listserv.

National PCR Listserv is a new national post-conviction relief (PCR) listserv for those who represent and advocate for noncitizens. The creation of this resource is the result of collaboration between ILRC, Immigrant Defense Project (IDP), and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Federal Court Litigation Section Steering Committee.  Click here to join this listserv.

What We Do

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) is a national nonprofit resource center that provides immigration legal trainings, technical assistance, and educational materials, and engages in advocacy and immigrant civic engagement to advance immigrant rights.

We Help Immigration Law Professionals and Advocates Expand Their Expertise

The ILRC publishes expert immigration practice manuals used by legal services providers nationwide. Our unique Attorney of the Day (AOD) consultation service provides case-specific technical assistance to attorneys, nonprofit organizations, public defenders, and other immigration advocates. Our staff attorneys also conduct immigration law trainings on emerging issues, policy updates, and effective practices.

We Educate and Train Immigrant Communities to Advocate for Themselves

By providing education and leadership development, the ILRC helps immigrant communities and organizations advocate for improved policies, better access to services, and safer communities.

We Shape Immigration Law and Policy

ILRC attorneys are experts in the field of immigration law. Through our advocacy work at local, state, and federal levels, we work to ensure that policies and procedures impacting immigrant communities are fair and just.

Who We Are

The increasingly complex legal and social challenges faced by immigrants in the 1970s created a growing need for expert assistance and training in immigration law and policy. Bill Ong Hing, a well-known immigrant rights attorney, recognized this need and founded the Golden Gate Immigration Clinic in 1979, which later became the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC). The ILRC seeks to improve immigration law and policy, expand the capacity of legal service providers, and advance immigrant rights.

The ILRC trains attorneys, paralegals, and community-based advocates who work with immigrants around the country. We inform the media, elected officials, and public to shape effective and just immigration policy and law. Our staff works with grassroots immigrant organizations to promote civic engagement and social change.

Regulation Creates New Crimes Bars to Asylum
Asylum
Crimes
Post-Conviction Relief
In October 2020, DHS and DOJ published a final regulation that sets out wide-ranging and draconian bars to applying for, and bases to terminate a grant of, asylum. For example, the bars include conviction of any felony, any controlled substance offense, a single DUI with injury, a DUI with a DUI prior (regardless of injury), and domestic violence bars based on the underlying conduct.

Community Alert: Changes to the DACA Program
Community Resources
DACA
On December 4, 2020 a federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to fully restore the original DACA Program. Allowing for the continuation of renewals, and opening the program to first time applicants. This resource is a summary on what this means for the community, how it impacts those looking to apply, and what next steps someone can take. 

ILRC Opposes November 2020 USCIS Changes to the Policy Manual on Discretion in Adjustment
Family-Based
Policy Advocacy
ILRC filed comments opposing USCIS’s changes to discretion in adjustment because they violate existing case law. The changes represent an attempt to impose new eligibility requirements that are also a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because they went into effect without the required regulatory notice and comment process. The agency has provided no explanation for this abrupt departure from prior procedure and application of the law. In addition, the policy manual will unduly burden eligible applicants and USCIS adjudicators by requiring a separate, lengthy adjudication of thirty specific discretionary factors under a heightened burden of proof that requires adjustment applicants to show “clearly and beyond doubt” that they are eligible for adjustment. The new emphasis on a balancing of a myriad of factors invites arbitrary and inconsistent application of the law.

Immigration Consequences of Texas Assault (August 2022)
Crimes
Post-Conviction Relief
Removal Defense
This practice advisory explains the various immigration consequences of a conviction for Assault under Texas Penal Code § 22.01 and provides tips for mitigating such consequences in criminal proceedings. This August 2022 update includes analysis of the Texas Assault statute in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Borden v. United States. The Texas Assault statute is complex and includes several subsections, so we have included a chart in the appendix describing the potential immigration consequences for each subsection of the Texas Assault statute.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS): An Update on Status and Options
Community Resources
Temporary Protected Status
TPS recipients from six countries face potential termination of that protection from the Trump Administration, potentially impacting approximately 300,000 people.  This resource provides an update on the current status of TPS for these countries and what rights and options beneficiaries have.  It also outlines what they might expect as a result of legal challenges to the termination and under a new administration.

ILRC Opposes EOIR’s Proposed Changes to “Good Cause” for Continuances in Removal Proceedings
Policy Advocacy
Removal Defense
U Visa/T Visa/VAWA
On December 22, 2020, the ILRC submitted comments in opposition to EOIR’s notice of proposed rulemaking regarding what constitutes “good cause” for a continuance in removal proceedings. The proposed changes severely restrict the circumstances in which respondents can obtain continuances in removal proceedings, as well as the number and length of continuances. These changes will have a devastating impact on respondents’ due process rights, essentially eliminate protections from removal for VAWA and U-visa petitioners, further interfere with the independence of immigration judges, and curtail administrative efficiency.

DACA Practice Update December 2020
DACA
On November 14, 2020, a U.S. District Court found that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memorandum issued in July 2020 limiting the DACA program was invalid.  This decision restored the DACA program to its original 2012 form and opened up the possibility for first-time applicants, restored two-year renewals, and allowed for DACA recipients to submit advance parole applications. 

DACA Initial App Guide

Community Resources
DACA
As new applicants begin to set their sights on initial DACA requests, there are several questions worth asking and steps worth taking to prepare productively. This guide is designed to walk community members through eligibility and process for submitting an initial application for deferred action and employment authorization. For information on submitting a renewal DACA application, please visit our full application deep dive video here.

Document Gathering Guide for VAWA Self-Petitioners

U Visa/T Visa/VAWA
This resource is designed to help guide individuals gather the documents needed to file a Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-petition. The guide provides information for individuals as they begin to gather needed documentation and evidence for their filings. Note that the guide is not a comprehensive explanation of the law or its requirements, but instead a user-friendly resource meant to help a self-petitioner learn what documents are necessary. The resource is divided into three sections of the documentation needed to prove eligibility for VAWA, how the self-petitioners can build a declaration and the information that should be included, and lastly walks individuals through where and how these documents can be requested.

Executive Action on DACA under Biden
Civic Participation
DACA
DACA has undergone turbulent changes since it was announced in 2012. Terminated and reinstated numerous times since, these changes have shown the urgent need to pass a permanent and inclusive legislative solution that will provide a pathway to citizenship not only to DACA recipients but their family members. In the meantime, the Biden administration must fulfill its campaign promise to protect DACA recipients and their parents. The ILRC collected 12 critical proposals from DACA recipients and legal advocates to ensure that any executive action regarding the DACA program aligns with our community values.

Winter 2020 Newsletter
In this issue: HETAP - Reaching Immigrant Students on College Campuses, Organizing - The Heart of the Movement, Office Roundups, and more. 

First-Ever State Funded Legal Fellowship Program Launches in California for Attorneys Committed to Providing Legal Services to Immigrants

       

For Immediate Release: Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021
Contact: Media@ilrc.org 

First-Ever State Funded Legal Fellowship Program Launches in California for Attorneys Committed to Providing Legal Services to Immigrants

Human & Immigrant Rights Groups File Amicus Brief Amid Continued Concerns Over Dangerous Conditions in Privately-run Detention Centers Due to the Pandemic

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021
Press contacts: media@ilrc.org 

Human & Immigrant Rights Groups File Amicus Brief Amid Continued Concerns Over Dangerous Conditions in Privately-run Detention Centers Due to the Pandemic