FAQs & Explainers

Gubernatorial pardons have become an increasingly important and accessible tool for immigrants to erase certain immigration consequences of criminal convictions. This two-page primer, written in collaboration with the UCLA School of Law Criminal Defense Clinic and available in both English and Spanish, provides an overview of the California Pardon process for potential applicants and their advocates.  
Diversion refers to a variety of programs that seek to avoid the processing of a defendant through the traditional criminal legal system. The goal of diversion is to direct an individual who has been accused of a crime into a treatment or care program as an alternative to imprisonment and/or prosecution. 
As the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies have increasingly come under scrutiny, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a division within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has played an increasingly significant role in carrying out brutal tactics to target immigrants for deportation. 
Starting in June 2019, Bexar County and San Antonio will implement "cite and release," a new administrative policy that seeks to reduce arrests. The policy directs law enforcement officers to use their discretion to issue citations for low-level, non-violent offenses.
This resource, co-authored by the Immigrant Justice Network (IJN) and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), discusses the immigration consequences of discriminatory practices within the criminal legal system.  IJN is a network comprised of the ILRC, the Immigrant Defense Project (IDP), and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.
This resource, co-authored by the Immigrant Justice Network (IJN) and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), discusses the immigration consequences of discriminatory practices within the criminal legal system.  IJN is a network comprised of the ILRC, the Immigrant Defense Project (IDP), and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.
This community alert provides key information about upcoming changes to the fee waiver process, which allows some applicants to submit their immigration applications without having to pay the filing fee if they cannot afford it. In the coming months, one of the easiest and most straightforward ways of proving that you qualify for a fee waiver request will be going away. Find out more information about this upcoming change and submit your application now if you might qualify for a fee waiver!