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.
02/20/2020
In response to recent ICE enforcement practices, noncitizens who need to attend state and local courts in California may express fear of civil arrest if they attend court. This two-page tool, written for defenders and legal services providers, presents California-specific strategies for representing and advising noncitizens who may require additional procedural protections for their right to...
02/19/2020
2020 marks another Census year and it is critical that diverse immigrant communities are not only aware of the importance of being counted, despite one’s immigration status, but knowledgeable of the ways in which the Census could impact spending and representation in our hometowns. Beginning in March of 2020, the Bureau of the Census will be sending mailers across the country informing...
02/05/2020
In this recording, we discuss how ICE operates and goes about detaining and deporting hundreds of thousands of people a year. Designed for those new to the fight against ICE, we provide an overview of how ICE operates as well as an overview of local efforts to push back against ICE’s increasingly aggressive tactics. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of the various mechanisms ICE employs to identify, arrest, and deport people along with clear strategies and tools that can be used by advocates to protect our communities. ...
02/04/2020
This one-hour training, recorded on February 4, 2020, provides updates on what the U.S. Supreme Court's January 27, 2020 order regarding the Department of Homeland Security's new public charge inadmissibility rule means for our clients and the immigrant community. We also discuss what we know and what questions remain at this juncture, suggestions for how to talk about this latest development...
01/29/2020
This toolkit from ILRC, CLINIC, and the Center for Constitutional Rights provides and introduction and advice for how immigrant rights advocates can use public records act requests to get information on how immigrants are treated by local and state government agencies. These requests can be an essential part of campaigns to protect immigrant communities.
01/28/2020
This community facing advisory in both English and Spanish explains the power of county prosecutors to determine who does, or doesn’t, suffer immigration consequences.
01/22/2020
Since 2015, the process of immigrating to the United States as the spouse of a USC or an LPR should not be any different for an LGBTQ couple than any other couple. However, advocates working with LGBTQ couples may need to consider a variety of factors when documenting and providing representation for an LGBTQ marriage-based petition. For example, is the couple currently living a jurisdiction...
01/13/2020
Enacted on December 20, 2019, the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LIRF) act opened a one-year window that will allow many Liberians living in the United States to apply for permanent residence. Learn more about the program and guidelines for eligibility with this community alert.
01/13/2020
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) builds a democratic society that values diversity and the rights of all people. Through ILRC’s policy and advocacy efforts, we promote a vision of racial justice that advances the rights of all immigrants, including those who have had contact with the criminal legal system. ILRC engages in policy and advocacy throughout the United States with a...
01/03/2020
Effective December 20, 2019, the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF) act opened a one-year window that will allow many Liberians living in the United States to apply for permanent residence. The act was buried in Section 7611 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020. This practice advisory will provide a summary of the law, which went into effect immediately and...
01/03/2020
Section 212(h) of the INA provides a waiver for crimes inadmissibility grounds, which can be surprisingly useful for undocumented people, VAWA applicants, or permanent residents. It can be applied for multiple times; it has the potential to waive an aggravated felony conviction (unless it is related to drugs); it can be used both affirmatively and as a defense to removal; and it does not always...
12/23/2019
On December 23, 2019, ILRC submitted a comment in opposition of the Department of Homeland Security’s notice of proposed rulemaking titled, “U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Fee Schedule and Changes to Certain Other Immigration Benefit Request Requirements,” published in the Federal Register on November 14, 2019, with supplemental information published on December 9, 2019. The proposed...
12/19/2019
The nonimmigrant status, often referred to as the “T visa” is a form of immigration status for certain noncitizen survivors of trafficking. This visa was created by Congress to help combat human trafficking and provide immigration relief to persons who were affected. As part of the protections given, Congress allowed for applicants to petition for certain family members to gain status. These...
12/19/2019
The U nonimmigrant status, often referred to as the “U Visa,” is a form of immigration relief available to noncitizens who have been victims of serious crimes in the United States. As part of the protection given to victims of crimes, U petitioners are able to include certain family members in the application process. These family members are known as “derivatives”. For many family members, being...
12/19/2019
This report outlines the established purpose and availability of fee waivers for immigration applications, examines recent USCIS proposals to limit access and create more stringent evidentiary standards, and explores the potential consequences of a more restrictive framework on domestic violence victims and other survivors of crime. It includes results of an informal survey of legal service...
12/17/2019
It is important to remember that immigration law and regulations exempt some categories of immigrants from public charge inadmissibility and provide many types of immigration status that are not subject to the public charge ground of inadmissibility. This advisory provides an overview of the exemptions to public charge inadmissibility and the forms of relief a client may seek without being...
12/17/2019
Sanctuary policies have been under attack since the 2016 presidential campaign and throughout the Trump administration. Nonetheless, these policies have continued to expand, both geographically and in terms of substantive policy content and protections. This detailed report describes what sanctuary policies are and how they are enacted across the country, detailing the changes over the last three...
12/16/2019
Preparing a strong case for bond for detained clients has become more important than ever. This practice advisory discusses how to address evidentiary issues and challenges in bond proceedings and provides tips for proving your bond case, as well as overcoming negative factors.
12/16/2019
Answering questions about whether public charge inadmissibility applies to a client’s specific situation can be complicated. Case-specific considerations include, but are not limited to, whether the client has a legal status that is exempt from public charge inadmissibility, whether the client is seeking a form of relief that has an admissibility component, and whether the client is eligible to...
12/16/2019
California law requires prosecutors to consider immigration consequences when plea bargaining. Cal. Pen. C. 1016.3(b). This memo describes the unique duties prosecutors have when charging and negotiating DUI-related cases with DACA recipients.
12/16/2019
Recent attacks on the current fee waiver system threaten the access of low-income individuals to immigration benefits they are otherwise eligible to receive. This practice advisory provides an overview of the proposed changes as well as some practice tips for how to fight these harmful changes and best support low-income clients.
12/13/2019
A FOIA request can be an invaluable tool in immigration law to help an immigrant and their representative. 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 options.
12/13/2019
The last update to Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, was December 23, 2016. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) only accepts the current version of the form. The last major update to the N-400 was on February 4, 2014 , when USCIS announced changes that doubled the length of the form. The increase in length stemmed in part from additional questions related to determinations...
12/11/2019
In order to qualify for naturalization, lawful permanent residents must meet several residence and physical presence requirements that are often mistaken for one another and muddled together. Traveling outside of the United States can not only affect these requirements for naturalization, but they can cause United States Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) officials to find that a person...
12/10/2019
Your role as an attorney, DOJ-accredited representative, or other legal services provider is critical to ensure immigrants and their families understand changes to public charge policy. Many immigrants are not subject to public charge inadmissibility yet may be fearful to access public benefits or pursue immigration options because of public charge. Others may be subject to public charge and need...