The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) immigration attorneys’ expertise focuses on family-based immigration, humanitarian relief, naturalization and citizenship, immigration enforcement, and removal defense.
Since 1979 we have helped expand the immigration expertise of attorneys, nonprofit staff, criminal defenders, and others assisting immigrant clients.
In addition to authoring the ILRC’s practice manuals, our expert attorneys have been published by Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), ILW.com, Huffington Post, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Center for Law and Social Policy, The Hill, LexisNexis Emerging Issues, and Fox News Latino.
We have also provided training to National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), American Bar Association Commission on Immigration, Federal Bar Association, The State Bar of California, Legal Aid Association of California, Judicial Council of California and more.
This memorandum was sent to all California County Counsel offices on December 19, 2013. The letter discusses interpretation and implementation of the TRUST Act. Advocates may use this letter to better understand the Act as well as in advocacy.
The last update to Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, was April 1, 2024. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) only accepts the current version of the form. The ILRC developed an annotated form to assist practitioners and volunteers in completing the N-400.
This summary provides details on recent groundbreaking federal court rulings related to immigration detainers. Learn what these decisions mean and how to use this information with your own local sheriffs, other law enforcement, and elected officials.
On February 4, 2014 the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) introduced a new N-400 (Rev. 9/13/13), Application for Naturalization form that was updated in April and December 2016. All naturalization applicants must use the new form only. To help attorneys, BIA accredited representatives, and others learn how to complete this new form, we have developed a step-by-step guide.
This op-ed on Unaccompanied Alien Children was written by one of our summer law interns, Kathleen Kavanagh. In recent months, we’ve seen an unprecedented jump in child arrivals mostly from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The Official Border Patrol statistics show that over 47,000 unaccompanied minors have already been apprehended in the first eight months of fiscal year 2014.Read the entire article below.
On July 21, 2014, Governor Brown signed into law a provision that will make a California misdemeanor have a maximum possible sentence of 364 days. This will provide crucial help to immigrants convicted of minor offenses.
This letter was sent to all California County Counsel and Sheriff Offices to advise on Miranda-Olivares and urge jurisdictions to stop complying with Immigration detainers, unless or until such detainers are accompanied by a judicial determination of probable cause to satisfy the requirements of the Fourth Amendment.
In Rendon v. Holder the Ninth Circuit clarified when a statute is truly “divisible” under the categorical approach, and held that California burglary (Penal Code § 459) never constitutes the aggravated felony “attempted theft.” This holding also means that California burglary never is a crime involving moral turpitude, under the categorical approach.
In 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a Parental Interests Directive to provide federal guidelines regarding immigration enforcement against parents and legal guardians. The Directive emphasizes that ICE should respect an immigrant parent’s rights and responsibilities, and seeks to ensure that “immigration enforcement activities do not unnecessarily disrupt” parental rights. This resource summarizes the key provisions of the Directive and provides tips to those working within the dependency system on how to best ensure an immigrant parent can meaningfully participate in the dependency proceedings.
On September 30, 2012, the state of California enacted the Reuniting Immigrant Families Act (“SB 1064”). SB 1064 is the nation’s first law addressing the reunification barriers faced by many immigrant families involved with the child welfare system. The law clarifies that maintaining children’s ties to their families remains the priority despite barriers imposed by immigration status, including immigration detention and deportation.
The attached provides an overview of the various policy points that advocates should consider in arguing for stronger ICE hold policies, including what language to avoid.
This chart is a compilation of resources for advocates working with Unaccompanied Immigrant Children (“UAC”) and includes general resources for working with and representing the UAC population, immigration options for UACS, laws affecting UACs, overview of the immigration detention and deportation process for immigrant children, and legal know your rights for children.
Visual map of what may happen to immigrant children in the immigration system including apprehension, detention, immigration court, and deportation.
Owing to a growing number of polices will limit ICE holds, and updates in case law, fewer people will be subject to mandatory detention, particularly in California. This handout provides an overview of mandatory detention law including how these updates may benefit your client.
At the ILRC, we believe in educating and thereby empowering immigrants. Immigrants are too often unaware that they have rights as consumers under California law, and that non-attorney immigration providers, defined as "immigration consultants," must meet strict requirements in order to operate legally in California. [Information on getting Anti-fraud Assistance].
With a few exceptions, immigration authorities must use the “categorical approach” to determine whether a criminal conviction triggers a ground of removal. Expert use of the categorical approach may be the most important defense strategy available to immigrants convicted of crimes.
SB 873 appropriates $3M to provide legal representation for Unaccompanied Minors in removal proceedings. The law also eliminates any ambiguity that California Superior Courts, including family courts, have jurisdiction to make the findings necessary for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (“SIJS”). This fact sheet outlines how the law benefits Unaccompanied Minors, including practice tips for how advocates can leverage the law to improve practice in state court for SIJS petitions.
This document provides an overview of administrative relief for community members.
This Fact Sheet focuses on the expansion of deferred action, memorialized in a Memorandum by Jeh Johnson "Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children and with Respect to Certain Individuals Whose Parents are U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents."