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.

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ILRC-DHS Watch Letter - USCIS Appropriations

06/11/2020
Policy Advocacy
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency funded by the fees of US citizens, employers, and immigrants, is asking Congress for $1.2 billion in appropriated money to cover up years of deliberate fiscal and policy mismanagement by the Trump administration. The ILRC and DHS Watch drafted a letter signed by over 100 groups asking that Congress condition any appropriated funds to...
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Practice Alert: State and Local COVID-19 Emergency Funds and Public Charge

06/05/2020
Public Charge
Policy Advocacy
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic of the past several months, Congress has taken some important steps to provide federal assistance to people who are struggling economically because of job loss or other related financial hardship. However, the federal COVID-19 relief programs created so far leave out many low-income people, among them immigrants, from key forms of assistance. Fortunately, some states...
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Public Charge: What the Immigrant Community in California Needs to Know

Public Charge
Community Resources
06/01/2020

During the COVID-19 pandemic, with shelter-in-place orders and social distancing protocols, it has become more difficult to reach the immigrant community to share information about immigration policies and access to resources. At the same time, given the economic devastation of COVID-19 for many immigrant families, it has never been more important to talk about what supportive services immigrants can obtain and how accessing services may or may not impact immigration legal opportunities in the United States.

In this community-focused presentation, we explain what public charge is...

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Guide to Gathering Supporting Evidence for the New USCIS Public Charge Form I-944

05/29/2020
Family-Based
Public Charge
The I-944 is USCIS’ new public charge form, part of implementing the Department of Homeland Security’s public charge rule that took effect on February 24, 2020. Among other changes that will make it harder for moderate- and low-income immigrants to pass a public charge test, the new public charge rule includes details for scrutinizing the statutory factors involved in evaluating public charge...
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Guide to Filling out the New USCIS Public Charge Form I-944

05/29/2020
Family-Based
Public Charge
The I-944 is USCIS’ new public charge form, part of implementing the Department of Homeland Security’s public charge rule that took effect on February 24, 2020. Among other changes that will make it harder for moderate- and low-income immigrants to pass a public charge test, the new public charge rule includes details for scrutinizing the statutory factors involved in evaluating public charge...
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Comment on USCIS policy manual instructions for adjustment applications under the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (LRIF)

05/15/2020
Family-Based
On May 7, 2020, ILRC co-authored and signed on to a comment opposing recently published USCIS policy manual instructions for adjustment applications under the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (LRIF). USCIS took a restrictive view of the LRIF statute and published administrative guidance which would disqualify persons who should be eligible under the statutory language. The LRIF statute...
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Understanding Targets in Texas: City and County Government Structures

Enforcement
05/14/2020

Identifying the right local targets is a crucial step in an organizing campaign. Before advocates and community members start to push for a policy, it is important we understand the structure of our local government, the authority and jurisdiction of various local officials, and how all of these layers and actors interact with one another. Different officials and agencies hold various powers to create local laws and policies, as well as influence budgets. Join us on this webinar to learn how to identify the real decision-makers in your community, whether they are elected or appointed, and...

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Texas Sheriffs and the Arrest-to-Deportation Pipeline

05/12/2020
Enforcement
Crimes
Detention
As a local elected law enforcement official and operator of county jails, Sheriffs play a critical role in ending the arrest-to-deportation pipeline. This advisory for advocates in Texas explains the power of county sheriffs, and measures they can take to reduce the number of people being funneled into the deportation pipeline, without violating state laws like SB 4.
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ILRC Comment Submitted Opposing Revisions to I-864 Affidavit of Support

05/12/2020
Family-Based
Public Charge
On May 8, 2020, ILRC submitted a comment to USCIS opposing a recent USCIS Information Collection notice published in the Federal Register on April 10, 2020 to overhaul the form I-864 Affidavit of Support. USCIS used a form change process under the Paperwork Reduction Act to propose extensive changes in the I-864, I-864 A and I-864 EZ which would further discourage sponsors from pledging support...
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Practice Alert: The Impact of Barton v. Barr on Eligibility for Cancellation of Removal

05/06/2020
Crimes
Removal Defense
On April 23, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an adverse, 5-4 decision in Barton v. Barr , No. 18-725 (U.S. Apr. 23, 2020), a case regarding the “stop-time rule” and eligibility for cancellation of removal. The Court held that committing an offense “listed in” the inadmissibility grounds at INA § 212(a)(2) stops time for purposes of cancellation, even for an admitted LPR who cannot be charged...
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Letter of Amicus Curiae in Support of Petition for Writ of Mandate in California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, et al. v. Gavin Newsom, California Governor, et al.

05/05/2020
Enforcement
Prosecutors
COVID-19 has made one thing clear; when law enforcement cooperates with ICE this has dire public health implications. There have been renewed and urgent efforts to stop this cooperation, including a recently filed lawsuit California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, et al. v. Gavin Newsom, California Governor, et al ., challenging the transfer of people from state and local custody to ICE in the...
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Department of State and Public Charge: New DS-5540 and Changes to the Foreign Affairs Manual

04/24/2020
Family-Based
Public Charge
Effective February 24, 2020, the Department of State is applying new guidance and requiring new forms to screen visa applicants for public charge inadmissibility. This practice advisory reviews the current changes to the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), describes the new form DS-5540 Public Charge Questionnaire , and gives practice tips for persons who will be consular processing under the new rules.
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Memo on the Equal Protection Implications of Immigration-Related Prosecutorial Considerations

04/21/2020
Crimes
Post-Conviction Relief
Prosecutors
Enforcement
Increasingly prosecutors are asked to c on sider immigrati on c on sequences in the charging and plea-bargaining process. Some states have adopted policies requiring prosecutors to c on sider such c on sequences, see, e.g., Cal. Pen. C. § 1016.3(b), and some prosecutor offices have adopted internal guidelines mandating the c on siderati on of immigrati on c on sequences. This advisory provides c...
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Qualifying for Protection Under the Convention Against Torture

04/21/2020
Removal Defense
Asylum
Protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) is an important relief option for individuals who are unable to qualify for asylum or withholding of removal. This advisory reviews the legal standard for CAT protection . It also provides an overview of seminal Board of Immigration Appeals and federal circuit court decisions that discuss the various elements of a CAT claim. The end of the...
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A Guide to State Laws on U Visa and T Visa Certifications

04/21/2020
U Visa/T Visa/VAWA
Immigrant Youth
U nonimmigrant status and T nonimmigrant status, often called “U visas” and “T visas,” are humanitarian forms of immigration relief for crime survivors. Congress created these forms of relief with the dual purpose of aiding law enforcement, by encouraging crime victims to cooperate, and providing humanitarian relief for crime survivors. Both forms of relief have a certification process by which...
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Immigration Preparedness Toolkit

04/20/2020
Community Resources
The ILRC’s Immigration Preparedness Toolkit is a resource-packed informational document designed to help immigrants with no legal status or in mixed status families begin to understand the immigration legal landscape and plan for their own journey through an ever-changing, complex system in the United States. This free toolkit offers in-depth, yet easily accessible information that outlines the...
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Explaining Gonzalez v. ICE: A Guide for Advocates in Texas

04/20/2020
Enforcement
Detention
Crimes
In February 2020, a federal judge in California issued an important decision in Gonzalez v. ICE limiting the issuance of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers by some ICE offices. The decision finds that ICE violates the Fourth Amendment by issuing detainers based solely on information from its own databases, which are too error-ridden to provide probable cause for the...
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5 Things to Know: Public Charge

04/16/2020
Public Charge
The Trump administration recently implemented new policies that make it harder for low- and moderate- income people to receive permanent residence (a “green card”) or some visas if they are subject to a public charge test. However, not everyone needs to worry about these changes to public charge, and even among those who are affected by these policies, people are impacted differently depending on...
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Community Messages: Public Charge

04/16/2020
Public Charge
Public charge is a confusing legal topic, made more complicated by new public charge policies. Particularly amid the policy shifts, it can be difficult to know precisely how to communicate with community members about public charge. This resource includes core messages to share with the community on public charge, designed to facilitate accurate information dissemination about the topic in a...
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Using and Defending California Penal Code § 1473.7 Vacaturs in Immigration Proceedings: Sample Memorandum of Law and Table of BIA Cases

04/15/2020
Post-Conviction Relief
Crimes
Removal Defense
In 2016, California passed California Penal Code § 1473.7, a critical post-conviction relief vehicle for people no longer in criminal custody to move to eliminate prior convictions that violated constitutional and statutory rights to due process and effective assistance of counsel. Under decades of legal precedent, prior offenses vacated on this basis are outside the federal immigration...
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Responsible Releases: Safeguards to Protect Immigrants Released from Jails and Prisons

04/14/2020
Crimes
Enforcement
Detention
Prosecutors
As more and more jurisdictions are contemplating releasing people from jails and prisons, it is critical that we consider ways to ensure that people released are not immediately transferred to the harmful deportation system. ILRC, together with our allies, Asian Prisoners Support Committee, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, and California Alliance for Youth and Criminal...
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ICE Detainers Are Illegal — So What Does That Really Mean?

04/09/2020
Community Resources
Crimes
Enforcement
Prosecutors
Over the years, various courts throughout the country have agreed that prolonging custody of a person solely based on an ICE detainer request is unlawful for numerous reasons. This practice advisory provides a summary of the court decisions related to ICE detainers and the arguments to challenge localities that continue to detain people for ICE. The cases discussed here illustrate some of the...

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