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.
05/09/2022
A reference sheet on the immigration consequences of delinquency and diagnostic questions for noncitizen youth: determining potential avenues for legal status.
05/04/2022
During the Trump administration, the public charge ground of inadmissibility received much attention. The Trump administration implemented new rules on public charge that increased scrutiny of applicants for green cards. The Trump-era rules are no longer in effect. This advisory, updated in May 2022, provides practitioners with current information about the public charge ground of inadmissibility...
04/14/2022
The ILRC submitted these recommended priorities to USCIS for improvements to the USCIS Policy Manual. This letter follows our list of USCIS Policy Manual recommendations provided to USCIS on September 2, 2021 (available here: https://www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/ilrc_uscis_pm_suggestions.pdf ). While every change we suggested is important, a few have become more urgent as they are...
04/14/2022
Currently, individuals who have Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) can request and travel with Advance Parole. DACA recipients can request Advance Parole for humanitarian, employment, and education reasons. To qualify, DACA recipients will need to demonstrate that their need to travel falls within one of these categories. This community resource provides an overview of travel with...
04/12/2022
This free, one-hour webinar created with our partners NIPNLG and Public Counsel covers key provisions of the new rule and highlights changes from previous agency practice.
03/18/2022
These three charts, updated on March 18, 2022, outline the different requirements for acquiring and deriving citizenship. Because the law governing acquisition and derivation has changed many times and is generally not retroactive, these charts detail what the eligibility requirements are depending on the time period in question. Each chart has extensive footnotes that provide explanations about...
03/16/2022
On March 7, 2022, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a new policy that applies to young people who have been granted Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) but are not yet able to become a green card holder because they are waiting for a visa to be available (“the visa backlog”). The new policy, which goes into effect May 6, 2022 , provides for young people stuck in...
03/16/2022
Two immigration statuses that may overlap are Asylum and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) because they both help people who are afraid of returning to their home country. While these two are different in a few ways, it is useful to know what each option offers and that applying for both is allowed, so long as an applicant is eligible. This brief guide delves into the ways these two options might...
03/16/2022
The ILRC and partner organizations submitted the attached letter and BIA case summary to OPLA leadership, clarifying that vacaturs issued pursuant to California Penal Code § 1473.7(a)(1) correct legally and procedurally defective convictions, meeting the standard set forth in Matter of Pickering, 23 I&N Dec. 621 (BIA 2003).
03/14/2022
Gonzalez v. ICE is an important class action lawsuit raising fundamental questions about ICE enforcement practices, in particular the use of federal databases to target people for immigration detainers and arrests. This advisory explains the latest developments in the federal courts and how advocates can use these legal theories to defend their clients and communities.
02/25/2022
C alifornia immigrants who file taxes may now receive cash from the California Earned Income Tax Credit ( CalEITC). During COVID-19, immigrant families need support, and filing taxes may mean cash benefits for qualifying families. This community resource is designed to help answer the most common questions immigrant communities may have on the CalEITC. For more information on the CalEITC, visit...
02/15/2022
"An Overview to Special Immigrant Juvenile Status," excerpted from ILRC’s new publication Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and Other Immigration Options for Children & Youth. (Excerpted from Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and Other Immigration Options for Children & Youth .)
02/14/2022
In recent years, California’s appellate courts have provided guidance on the state court’s role in Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) cases. The following decisions clarify many of the common questions that these cases present in state courts, including one-parent SIJS, notice and service issues, and the role of the state court.
01/24/2022
This page offers resources on “crim/imm,” the law governing the intersection of immigration and crimes, especially as it applies to California law. This page includes the Public-Facing California Chart , Analysis: Selected Defenses to Selected California Crimes , as well as a series of short articles on crim/imm entitled Notes. Immigration advocates and criminal defenders can access additional...
01/12/2022
This one-sheet flyer can be used to share a brief overview of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), who may be eligible, and what SIJS provides to those who qualify.
12/21/2021
On December 21, 2021, the ILRC submitted comments raising concerns on the form that ICE plans to utilize to allow the public to submit tips on suspicious or criminal activity. ILRC raised concerns with ICE’s use of this form given the high likelihood that information submitted will be unreliable or outright false, which has the potential to significantly harm immigrant communities. Particularly...
12/21/2021
In this issue: The Fight for a Permanent Inclusive Legislative Solution, ILRC Field Office Run Down, #FindYourAlly college outreach digital content, and much more!
12/17/2021
DHS acaba de anunciar nuevas prioridades de aplicación de la ley de inmigración. Únase a nuestro seminario web para conocer los desarrollos recientes de políticas y lo que se avecina. Profundizaremos en los detalles de la nueva política y discutiremos los mensajes y el marco para usar esta guía en un caso individual, incluidos consejos de organización y promoción para elevar los casos individuales a miembros del congreso y la oficina central del DHS.
12/16/2021
Throughout the Trump Administration, the federal government has sought to undermine sanctuary policies by requiring that cities help ICE with immigration enforcement in order to receive certain federal grants from the DOJ. These policies have spurred a dozen lawsuits, almost all of which have ruled in favor of the cities challenging DOJ’s conditions. In 2021, the Biden administration removed all...
12/16/2021
In certain immigration cases, you may want to submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. Department of State (DOS), such as to try to find information about previous visa applications and passport records. This Practice Advisory will go over the DOS FOIA process in detail and provide practice tips for obtaining personal records from them, including best practices. Go to this...
12/14/2021
This Chart summarizes the criminal record bars to many forms of relief, to provide a quick way to check whether your client is potentially eligible for relief. See also ILRC, Immigration Relief Toolkit (2018).
12/14/2021
A FOIA request can be an invaluable tool in immigration law to help an immigrant and their representative gain a complete understanding of one’s immigration history. This guide details how to complete a FOIA request for USCIS, ICE, OBIM, and CBP. It provides step-by-step instructions on how to complete Form G-639 and also includes tips about alternatives to Form G-639 , such as online submission...
12/06/2021
What is 287(g)? 287(g) is a program for allowing state and local agencies to act as immigration enforcement agents. Under 287(g), ICE forms an agreement with a state or local agency - most often a county sheriff that runs a local jail - and this agreement delegates specific immigration enforcement authority to designated officers within the local agency. These agreements are also known as “287(g...
12/03/2021
On June 14, 2021, USCIS announced a new “bona fide determination” process whereby certain U petitioners and their family members with pending U petitions can receive four-year work authorization and deferred action while they wait for full adjudication. This process could be very good for many of the 270,000 folks who have filed for a U visa and are waiting – but there are many folks left out,...
11/18/2021
On November 18, 2021, the ILRC submitted comments making recommendations to USCIS regarding the agency’s proposed regulation on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. ILRC focused on recommendations that address the need for USCIS to create standards within this regulation to ensure equitable and consistent treatment for DACA applicants.