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 particular focus on local policy work in Texas, local and state policy work in California, and policy advocacy at the federal level. Our policy and advocacy efforts are guided by three main pillars: 1) dismantling the arrest to deportation pipeline and disrupting racial disparities in the immigration and criminal legal systems; 2) expanding immigration law to improve protections from deportation and access to immigration relief; and 3) preserving and expanding access to legal services and opportunities for citizens and non-citizens to engage in the political process.
Latest Resources
Practice Advisory
Resources
Publication Date
08/07/2025
This practice advisory provides background on the disability waiver of the English and civics requirement for naturalization and describes the June 2025 revisions to the USCIS Policy Manual (PM) on the submission and review of disability waivers. The revised guidance in the PM applies to applications filed on or after the publication date of June 13, 2025. Overall, the PM revisions signal a change in tone that assumes fraud in the disability waiver process is frequent and encourages increased scrutiny by USCIS adjudicators.
Toolkit & Reports
Resources
Publication Date
07/29/2025
Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) authorized the creation of a program that allows state and local law enforcement agencies to act as immigration enforcement agents.This policy brief reviews the recent history of 287(g) agreements and how they’ve proliferated, describes the three 287(g) agreement models, examines a case study of escalating 287(g) programs in Florida, delves into the programs’ dangers and harms, and provides some recommendations for local communities that want to stop 287(g) agreements in their tracks.
Public Comments / Sign-on Letters
Resources
Publication Date
07/09/2025
ILRC submitted a comment to USCIS in response to the revisions published on June 13, 2025 to guidance for disability waivers of the English and civics requirement for naturalization. ILRC opposed the 2025 revisions as they rely on a false narrative that fraud is rampant in the disability waiver process.
Public Comments / Sign-on Letters
Resources
Publication Date
07/07/2025
Toolkit & Reports
Resources
Publication Date
04/30/2025
Tracking all the tactics this administration is deploying to target immigrants is overwhelming. In this document, we attempt to summarize some of the key ways the Trump administration is shifting policies and practices to surveil, arrest, detain, deport, and silence immigrants and the people who support them. We do not name every shift; rather, we focus on the weaponization of the criminal legal system, the increasingly authoritarian approach, and the role of the federal budget, which are key tools of the Trump administration’s brutality and also vital sites of advocacy needed to stem the tide.
Public Comments / Sign-on Letters
Resources
Publication Date
04/29/2025
The IJ roundtable, composed of 71 former Immigration Judges and former Board Members and Appellate Immigration Judges of the Board of Immigration Appeals issued a letter highlighting their concerns about HB 1554 and the importance of having legal counsel in immigration proceedings.
FAQs & Explainers
Resources
Publication Date
04/23/2025
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing to change several forms by adding questions about an applicants’ family members, old email addresses and phone numbers and social media account information. The collection of information goes far beyond what the government needs to adjudicate these applications. The information in this resource discusses what the changes are and how to submit a comment.
Public Comments / Sign-on Letters
Public Comments / Sign-on Letters
Resources
Publication Date
03/12/2025
ILRC submitted a comment to the U.S. Department of State opposing a change in passport applications. DOS proposed the elimination of the X gender marker on initial, renewal and corrected passport applications and added the requirement that applicants designate and document M, Male or F, Female for biological sex at birth.
Practice Advisory
Resources
Publication Date
02/19/2025
This practice advisory outlines the process for researching and commenting on federal forms. A previous advisory covers the process specific to commenting on regulations, which has many parallels to the forms comment process. Federal forms and their comment process are often overlooked by advocates, even those who regularly follow changes in regulations and comment on them. However, form changes can be significant and sometimes can be used to change policy by agencies. The statute regulating forms is the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).
Public Comments / Sign-on Letters
Resources
Publication Date
11/19/2024 Related Products
Webinar
Webinar
ILRC attorneys will describe how to file requests through the Freedom of Information Act process at USCIS, both online and with a G-639. The speakers will describe recent changes to FOIA processes and policies at all DHS components including CBP, OBIM, and ICE.
Video
Video
In this short video, you’ll hear ILRC Immigration Policy Attorney, Aidin Castillo, offer her personal account about coming to the U.S. as a child, and describe the work that she’s doing to influence immigration reform legislation in Washington D.C.
Webinar
Webinar
This Webinar will offer an overview of the Texas v United States decision and what it means for current DACA recipients and DACA-eligible individuals. We will also provide considerations for practitioners as they advise community members about their legal options and possible next steps in finding a permanent solution.
Webinar
Webinar
Level: AllThis webinar will provide an overview of the regulatory process including finding and commenting on regulations and best practices for crafting comments. Our guest speaker is a former government attorney and expert in regulatory matters who will be providing more in-depth information to the regulatory process and comments practice. We will also highlight immigration regulations that are or are anticipated to be open for comment in the coming months.PresentersPeggy Gleason, Senior Staff Attorney - ILRC