A protester holding a sign that reads "liberate all Immigrants".

Detention

The Department of Homeland Security detains hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year throughout the United States. This entirely unnecessary, inhumane practice is wrought with extreme human rights abuses, and severely erodes the few due process protections provided to immigrants in removal proceedings. 

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center works in partnership with a broad array of organizations including impacted immigrants themselves, to advocate for policies that create a path toward abolishing this abusive system. Our team works at the forefront of statewide campaigns to dismantle immigrant detention, as well as engaging in federal advocacy in Washington, DC. In California, the ILRC has been leading on these issues for several years -- co-sponsoring California’s historic Dignity Not Detention Act (SB 29), which was first introduced in 2016. We have continued this work by pushing for stronger legislative protections around immigration detention, for example by advocating for AB 103 in 2017 and AB 32 in 2019. The ILRC is available to provide support on similar laws or policies in other states.  Locally, the ILRC provides resources and support to communities and organizations working to fight immigration detention and other enforcement issues, including background explanations, strategy tools for campaigns, and legal and policy analyses. 

Latest Resources

FAQs & Explainers
Resources
Publication Date
09/07/2023
In June 2023, the California Dignity Not Detention Coalition passed a budget initiative in California called HEAL (Healthy Economies Adapting to Last). HEAL dedicates 5 million dollars to incentivize California localities to divest from immigration detention by providing them funding to invest in new industries and jobs. HEAL presents a new tool in our advocacy toolbox to close detention centers once and for all. This community FAQ breaks down Dignity not Detention’s newest initiative.
Toolkit & Reports
Resources
Publication Date
05/23/2023
The prison industrial complex is a highly adaptive mechanism that is constantly shifting to sustain itself. In recent years, the movement against mass incarceration has gained traction in reducing penal incarceration in the United States. In this report in collaboration with the Detention Watch Network, we detail select case examples of jails and prisons that closed for one purpose, only to cage a different group of people. The case studies demonstrate the importance of looking ahead to strategies which ensure that cages remain closed for all carceral uses, once and for all.
FAQs & Explainers
Resources
Publication Date
05/03/2023
An immigrant legal defense fund pays legal service providers to represent community members facing deportation in immigration court. This resource provides a general overview of immigrant legal defense funds (ILDFs) at the municipal level in Texas, including why they are needed, the goals and components of a strong ILDF, and examples of these funds from across the state.
Resources
Resources
Publication Date
09/27/2022
On September 26, 2022, the Ninth Circuit en banc panel held that GEO group was likely to succeed in their lawsuit to find California's private prison and dertention ba (Bonta-AB 32) unconstitutional, and could continue seeking a preliminary injunction to block the law pending further proceedings at the lower court level. This summary provides a review of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ en banc decision. This legal breakdown was composed by the California Dignity Not Detention Coalition, with special thanks to NIPNLG and Pangea Legal Services.
FAQs & Explainers
Resources
Publication Date
09/07/2022
This resource summarizes the ICE Parental Interests Directive – a critical tool to help child welfare agencies address challenges for detained or deported parents – and explains how to use the Directive to advocate with ICE. It also discusses the heightened need for advocacy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Practice Advisory
Resources
Publication Date
06/28/2022
Clients with mental illness have needs and vulnerabilities that present unique challenges in immigration proceedings. This practice advisory provides an overview on advocating for clients with mental health issues, specifically focusing on representation in the detained setting. The advisory discusses legal authority that an immigration practitioner can utilize to protect a client’s due process rights and ensure their client’s agency is respected and they have a meaningful opportunity to present their case.
Practice Advisory
Resources
Publication Date
05/04/2022
DHS issued new enforcement and prosecutorial discretion guidance on September 30, 2021.  This practice advisory from the ILRC, NIPNLG, and IDP provides immigration practitioners with an overview of the enforcement priorities and other key policy changes described in recent DHS and ICE memos, and discusses strategies to use these priorities to advocate for prosecutorial discretion.
Practice Advisory
Resources
Publication Date
12/01/2021
DHS issued new enforcement and prosecutorial discretion guidance on September 30, 2021.  This practice advisory from the ILRC, NIPNLG, and IDP provides criminal defense practitioners with an overview of the enforcement priorities and other key policy changes described in recent DHS and ICE memos, and discusses strategies to use these priorities to advocate for prosecutorial discretion.
FAQs & Explainers
Resources
Publication Date
10/12/2021
A quick digest of the new DHS immigration enforcement priorities released in September 2021.
FAQs & Explainers
Resources
Publication Date
10/05/2021
AB 32 (People Not Profit) signed in 2019 and effective January 2020, outlaws criminal and civil private incarceration in California, with some exceptions.  Some brief months after AB 32 was signed, private prison company GEO Group Inc. and the Trump administration sued California aiming to strike down this momentous law. Federal District Court Judge Sammartino largely upheld AB 32, afterwhich GEO and the Biden administration appealed to the Ninth Circuit.
Practice Advisory
Resources
Publication Date
09/23/2021
There have been many recent developments regarding the litigation challenges to the Department of Homeland Security enforcement priorities. This brief guide provides a quick summary to help you keep up. In short, the Enforcement Priorities are currently still in effect, although a change could come within the next few weeks. Below you will additionally find the Fifth Circuit’s temporary stay of the lower federal district court’s preliminary injunction order. While these issues are quickly moving, this update is current as of September 2021.