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.
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
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.
11/27/2019
People who were wrongfully admitted to the United States due to a misrepresentation—i.e., those who were in fact inadmissible at time of admission—may be eligible for a waiver of deportability under INA § 237(a)(1)(H). This lesser-known waiver is only available in removal proceedings and unlike most waiver requests, does not involve any application form or fee . This advisory explains who can...
11/26/2019
This guide provides step-by-step guidance on how to check if you have a criminal record from the FBI and state government agencies.
11/15/2019
This advisory provides an overview of basic concepts in immigration law and describes the government agencies that work in this area. It is a primer for paralegals and accredited representatives who are new to the subject.
11/13/2019
National Map of Local Entanglement with ICE The federal government has built its immigration enforcement regime to depend on the time and resources of local law enforcement. As a result, local agencies are shoring up some of the most highly-funded, destructive law enforcement programs in our nation’s history. The Department of Homeland Security has built a massive infrastructure to exploit local...
11/12/2019
Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) records requests are an important tool for advocates who are representing people who were detained in ORR custody as children. This practice advisory discusses the role ORR records play in an immigration case and outlines the process for requesting them.
11/11/2019
The domestic violence deportation ground at INA § 237(a)(2)(E) sets out four bases for deportation: conviction of a crime of domestic violence, a crime of stalking, or a crime of child abuse, neglect, or abandonment, or being the subject of a judicial finding of violation of a domestic violence stay-away order. Coming within one of these grounds also can be a bar to cancellation of removal for...
11/08/2019
On November 1, 2019 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the automatic extension of employment authorization and other documentation for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan. Each of those TPS-designated countries was set to expire in 2020 but will now be automatically extended through January 4, 2021. This practice...
11/05/2019
This practice alert highlights the key take-aways from three recently adopted AAO decisions and some of the most important elements of the proposed regulations for advocates to challenge through comments, and contains an Appendix with case summaries of the AAO decisions.
10/31/2019
On October 25, 2019, Attorney General Barr issued a precedential opinion limiting when immigration authorities will give effect to a state court modification of an imposed sentence. See Matter of Thomas and Matter of Thompson , 27 I&N Dec. 674 (AG 2019), available at: https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1213201/download (“ Matter of Thomas/Thompson ”) While advocates plan to challenge this...
10/24/2019
The Department of Homeland Security uses government contracts to acquire immigration detention services. This graphic explains the procurement process, or the competitive bidding process, that government agencies use to purchase services from private contractors and how DHS can use this process to enter into contracts with private prison corporations.
10/24/2019
This timeline provides an overview of ICE’s contracts with the City of Adelanto and GEO Group for immigration detention services at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center and how those contracts have evolved over time.
10/08/2019
Sanchez v. Sessions was a landmark Ninth Circuit ruling on suppression of evidence and termination of removal proceedings. This advisory explains the decision, lays out the different legal standards for suppression and termination in immigration court, and highlights key holdings that practitioners can use to better defend their clients.
10/04/2019
On August 26, 2019, the Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) published an interim final rule, effective immediately, with a request for public comments by October 25, 2019. ILRC posted a templated comment urging programs to send in their own responses. ILRC has also submitted its own comments. Here are a few important points regarding the rule: The rule portrays...
10/03/2019
This one-hour training, specifically for education and outreach providers, discusses what public charge is, who is affected by it, and what the new changes mean for immigrant families. This session includes a discussion on how to conduct outreach and education on public charge to immigrant community members. This webinar is designed for non-legal services providers to provide accurate information...
10/03/2019
The DA’s office can prevent courts from becoming a gateway to mass deportation by adopting reforms and practices that will ensure all community members, including noncitizens, are treated equally, and no one is disproportionately impacted by the criminal legal system.
10/02/2019
While the best-case scenario would be for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to approve a person’s naturalization application, receiving a denial after a naturalization interview is not the end of the road. If USCIS denies the naturalization application, persons can seek a USCIS hearing to appeal the denial by submitting form N-336 (informally known as an administrative...
09/30/2019
Form N-648, the Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions, provides an opportunity for naturalization applicants who have a physical, developmental, or mental health disability to naturalize without meeting the English and/or civics requirements. On February 12, 2019, new USCIS policy guidance went into effect regarding Form N-648. Since August 12, 2019, USCIS only accepts the new edition...
09/30/2019
This guide outlines steps DACA renewal applicants can take if their renewal is delayed.
09/25/2019
This short resource explains how California laws protect noncitizen youth in the youth justice system from immigration enforcement.
09/19/2019
This resource, co-authored by the ILRC and United We Dream (UWD), compares the criminal and inadmissibility grounds for Titles I and II of the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 with DACA and TPS.
09/19/2019
This resource is a comprehensive client intake form meant to assist practitioners in screening for immigration relief options. Accompanying the intake form are notes to assist practitioners in spotting issues and relief options.
09/18/2019
The ILRC is pleased that Congress is engaging in a serious conversation about immigration policy and how to protect DACA recipients, TPS holders and those with DED - who are among the many groups of people of color and immigrants targeted by the Trump Administration's racist policies and discriminatory practices. The ILRC believes strongly that any legislation designed to protect immigrants...