Enforcement

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

In the Spring of 2023, the ILRC surveyed partner organizations and immigration practioners to get a sense of how the Biden Administration’s enforcement priorities were impacting interior enforcement. Unsurprisingly, our analysis of the data showed that federal guidance does not prevent ICE from targeting and detaining people who do not meet agency priorities.