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
This practice advisory covers what to do when inadmissibility factors are discovered or triggered outside the U petitioning process such as after applying for or receiving U nonimmigrant status, adjusting status through INA § 245(m), adjusting status under a different petition, or traveling outside the country.
On September 13, 2023, Judge Andrew S. Hanen, a federal judge in the Southern District of Texas, ruled that the Biden administration’s final DACA rule, issued in August 2022, is unlawful. Judge Hanen previously ruled in July 2021 that the 2012 DACA memorandum, which preceded the rule, was. His earlier ruling was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, but the appellate court sent the case back to Judge Hanen to consider whether there are any material differences between the DACA rule and the 2012 memo.

This Practice Alert goes over Judge Hanen’s latest ruling. It’s important to note that the amended order does not change the status quo. Current DACA recipients, or those whose DACA has lapsed for less than a year, can continue to renew their DACA and work authorization, as well as apply for Advance Parole. However, first-time DACA applications continue to be blocked and cannot be processed.