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Enforcement

The Department of Homeland Security detains and deports hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year. The massive immigration enforcement regime has devastating effects on immigrant families and communities. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) has been at the forefront of campaigns locally and nationally to fight back against immigration enforcement and protect immigrant rights. 

The ILRC provides resources and support to communities and organizations working on immigration enforcement issues, including background explanations, strategy tools for campaigns, legal and policy analyses, and ongoing assistance to campaigns fighting against unfair immigration enforcement.

Popular Resources

State Map on Immigration Enforcement

This map focuses on state laws that regulate the state’s involvement in immigration enforcement.

National Map of Local Entanglement with ICE

The map represents the degree to which local policies limit assistance in immigration enforcement.

National Map of 287(g) Agreements

This map represents the 137 total jurisdictions across the country that currently have 287(g) agreements under the jail enforcement and Warrant Service Officer models.

Local Policy Interventions for Protecting Immigrants

On this resource, we identify the key policy intervention and link to examples of where state and local governments have taken this on.

Open Records Laws for Immigrant Rights Advocates

This toolkit and webinar provides 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.

The Role of Sheriffs and the Arrest-to-Deportation Pipeline

This short fact sheet helps explain the role and power of sheriffs and their engagement with ICE.

Annotated Detainer Form 2021

This sample ICE detainer is annotated to highlight what advocates should look for, and explains some of the legal problems with detainers.

Carceral Carousel

This report details select case examples of jails and prisons that closed for one purpose, only to cage a different group of people.

Latest Resources

Toolkit & Reports
Resources
Publication Date
10/01/2024
The “Expose and Disrupt” guide illustrates how immigrant rights advocates can use state Public Records Act (PRA) requests to fight back against immigration enforcement. Strategic PRA requests can peel back the curtain on ways state and local agencies work together with immigration authorities to reinforce the deportation machinery and traumatize our communities. The guide explains the mechanics of requesting public records, strategies on what information can be useful for campaigns to stop or limit immigration enforcement, and includes examples of what kinds of records exist.
FAQs & Explainers
Resources
Publication Date
08/21/2024
Prop 47 (2014) reclassified six felony offenses to misdemeanors, including shoplifting and simple drug possession, and funneled costs savings into safety measures like drug and mental health treatment and victim services centers. Proposed Prop 36 (November 2024) would roll back those reforms and add new criminal penalties and sentencing enhancements. Prop 36 will also impose severe immigration consequences on immigrants and their families. It will result in more Californians being deported and more families being separated. This resource provides some of the specific examples of the ways in which Proposition 36 will harm immigrants if passed.
Public Comments / Sign-on Letters
Resources
ILRC comments on Texas House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety Testimony on SB 602.
Public Comments / Sign-on Letters
Resources
Publication Date
07/24/2024
On July 23, 2024, the ILRC provide comment on the Biden Administration’s proposed re-scheduling of marijuana. The ILRC advocated for the complete de-scheduling of marijuana instead of rescheduling. The comment highlighted the racist impacts of maintaining marijuana on the schedule of controlled substances and the lack of any mitigating effect that rescheduling will have on immigration consequences of marijuana-related crimes
FAQs & Explainers
Resources
Publication Date
07/23/2024
Texas authorities have expansively interpreted a 2024  law that imposes a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence on people convicted under the state's smuggling law to include giving rides to undocumented people, The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), Human Rights Watch (HRW), Detention Watch Network (DWN), and AJA Advocacy Solutions said this report highlighting the law’s harm. The brief states that most people prosecuted for smuggling in Texas are young US citizens. Texas law enforcement officers have a troubled track record with identifying alleged smugglers, and now the state has raised the stakes of each arrest significantly.
Toolkit & Reports
Resources
Publication Date
06/18/2024
While politicians enact and reenact their reckless border theatrics, the ILRC surveyed border residents about their actual needs and how the influx of law enforcement efforts has affected them. We found that while the state of Texas spends more and more money on police and prisons, local governments are starved of funding and communities lack the most basic services, including clean water, paved roads, and street lights.
FAQs & Explainers
Resources
Publication Date
06/26/2024
If you are undocumented and have been a victim of a crime, served as a witness for law enforcement, or have been subject to human trafficking, you may be eligible to apply for certain forms of immigration status. These are known as U, T, and S visas. In most cases, the application process for these visas will require help from a law enforcement agency. This Community Explainer details how a new California law, AB 1261, aims to better protect immigrants who are applying for these forms of relief and ensure that California law enforcement agencies help them when needed.
Toolkit & Reports
Resources
Publication Date
01/26/2024
This slide deck was created by a coalition of organizers, activists, and attorneys in Texas to be publicly available for use as a resource when conducting know-your-rights presentations on Texas SB 4/ HB 4.

Community leaders, organizers, and activists are welcome to use this full slide deck as provided, or select the slides that are applicable to your presentation needs.
Public Comments / Sign-on Letters
Resources
Publication Date
11/07/2023
On November 7, 2023, the ILRC submitted this comment on USCIS’s proposed changes to Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. The comment provides detailed suggestions for alterations to the proposed form as well as suggested language the agency should include. ILRC urged the agency to revise the form to reduce barriers to permanent residence for applicants and adjudicators and to focus on ensuring that the form is accessible for pro se applicants.
Toolkit & Reports
Resources
Publication Date
10/13/2023
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) builds a democratic society that values diversity and the rights of all people. Through the 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.

The ILRC is dedicated to the long-term goal of dismantling systems undergirded in racial inequities and investing in the power of local communities to organize and create solutions. To achieve our goals, we focus on disrupting the arrest to deportation pipeline that has led to expansive over-policing and immigration enforcement and has contributed to the mass incarceration and exile of Black people and people of color in the United States.

This work is carried out through policy advocacy and implementation at the local, state, and federal level; cultural change work that amplifies a counternarrative to mass criminalization; deep coalition building efforts and collaborative work particularly with directly impacted individuals; and capacity building efforts that equip system stakeholders and impacted communities with the tools to create change that works towards a shared vision of justice for all people
Public Comments / Sign-on Letters
Resources
Publication Date
08/23/2023
On August 23, 2023, ILRC submitted a comment on the proposed form that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will use to collect information from the public about suspected violations. ILRC opposes the use of this form as it allows for anonymous, un-vetted information to be the basis of investigations and has a high likelihood of being used by abusers, unscrupulous employers and landlords, and others to harass and target immigrant communities.

ILRC Resources on 287(g)

Check out our map of 287(g) agreements and various resources to fight 287(g) in your community.

National Map of Local Entanglement with ICE

A map showing the degree to which local policies limit assistance in immigration enforcement