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.
On September 30, 2012, the state of California enacted the Reuniting Immigrant Families Act (“SB 1064”). SB 1064 is the nation’s first law addressing the reunification barriers faced by many immigrant families involved with the child welfare system. The law clarifies that maintaining children’s ties to their families remains the priority despite barriers imposed by immigration status, including immigration detention and deportation.
The attached provides an overview of the various policy points that advocates should consider in arguing for stronger ICE hold policies, including what language to avoid.
This chart is a compilation of resources for advocates working with Unaccompanied Immigrant Children (“UAC”) and includes general resources for working with and representing the UAC population, immigration options for UACS, laws affecting UACs, overview of the immigration detention and deportation process for immigrant children, and legal know your rights for children.
Visual map of what may happen to immigrant children in the immigration system including apprehension, detention, immigration court, and deportation.
Owing to a growing number of polices will limit ICE holds, and updates in case law, fewer people will be subject to mandatory detention, particularly in California. This handout provides an overview of mandatory detention law including how these updates may benefit your client.
At the ILRC, we believe in educating and thereby empowering immigrants. Immigrants are too often unaware that they have rights as consumers under California law, and that non-attorney immigration providers, defined as "immigration consultants," must meet strict requirements in order to operate legally in California. [Information on getting Anti-fraud Assistance].
With a few exceptions, immigration authorities must use the “categorical approach” to determine whether a criminal conviction triggers a ground of removal. Expert use of the categorical approach may be the most important defense strategy available to immigrants convicted of crimes.
SB 873 appropriates $3M to provide legal representation for Unaccompanied Minors in removal proceedings. The law also eliminates any ambiguity that California Superior Courts, including family courts, have jurisdiction to make the findings necessary for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (“SIJS”). This fact sheet outlines how the law benefits Unaccompanied Minors, including practice tips for how advocates can leverage the law to improve practice in state court for SIJS petitions.
This document provides an overview of administrative relief for community members.
This Fact Sheet focuses on the expansion of deferred action, memorialized in a Memorandum by Jeh Johnson "Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children and with Respect to Certain Individuals Whose Parents are U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents."
These flyers are for community members and can be used to screen people into eligibility, give information about the possible benefits and provide ideas for what people can do now to prepare.
This FAQ explains questions of legal authority for local law enforcement agencies to be involved in immigration enforcement. Specifically, the document reviews recent court decisions and examines how the law is evolving in regard to ICE detainers, administrative immigration warrants, and other immigration enforcement mechanisms that local law enforcement may encounter. The FAQ clarifies that even if there is probable cause to believe that a person is unlawfully present, this is not a basis to arrest, because local law enforcement officers do not have authority to enforce civil immigration law.
This is an annotated chart that provides quick access to the differing crimes bars to DAPA and DACA.
Obtenga aquí las respuestas a las preguntas más comunes sobre este nuevo programa para obtener una licencia de manejar en California.
The first handout, "AB 60 California Driver’s License: Frequently Asked Questions," is aimed at immigration attorneys and provides an overview of frequently asked questions regarding AB 60 licenses, including some common red flags. The second handout, "Preguntas Acerca de la AB 60," is aimed at community members and written in Spanish. It provides answers to common questions such as whether it is safe to apply for an AB 60 license depending on prior criminal or immigration history.
Special Immigrant Juvenile Status is a unique, hybrid form of immigration relief that requires the involvement of state courts before a child is eligible to apply for a special immigrant juvenile visa with U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. This guide includes an overview of the process of requesting SIJS findings in different types of state courts in California, providing answers to common questions about this process as well as practice pointers for different types of proceedings in California.
Advocates may find that some state court judges are unfamiliar with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), or uncomfortable with their role in helping an individual access a form of federal immigration relief. This resource is intended to help advocates address the concerns of state courts with respect to Special Immigrant Juvenile Status petitions.
Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) cases, involving a claim of abuse, abandonment or neglect against one parent while the child resides with the non-offending parent, are commonly referred to as one-parent cases. These cases, though permissible under the plain language of the statute as well as federal agency interpretation, have proved challenging particularly at the state court phase of the application process and at times before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that adjudicates SIJS petitions. This advisory is intended to be a primer for practitioners to help them successfully advocate for SIJS where one-parent SIJS claims are involved.
This document is an outreach flyer that can be given to potentially eligible DAPA applicants who are the parent of a Lawful Permanent Resident (“Green Card holder” or “LPR”) or to the LPR child, directly, that explains basic eligibility requirements for naturalization and the benefits of naturalizing.
This document provides dividers to help potentially eligible DAPA applicants organize their documents according to the DAPA eligibility criteria.