National Immigration Law Center

WASHINGTON February 24, 2020 – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security today began implementing the Trump administration’s new “public charge” regulation, a cornerstone of the administration’s attempts to redefine the U.S. immigration system to disenfranchise communities of color and favor the wealthy. The new policy dramatically alters the criteria used in adjudicating applications for lawful […]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2017 — Today the Trump administration announced the rescission of the transformative DACA program, which for over five years has successfully allowed close to 800,000 immigrant youth to pursue their full potential and contribute more fully to their communities. President Trump decided to end the program despite repeatedly telling immigrant youth not […]

BOSTON, MA (July 24, 2017) – Today, in another legal blow to U.S. Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement’s (ICE) use of immigration detainers, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided that police or judicial authorities’ practice of holding people pursuant to federal immigration detainers violates Massachusetts law. This decisions means that ICE can no longer lawfully ask […]

LOS ANGELES, April 19, 2017 — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security today said in statements to the media that Juan Manuel Montes, a young immigrant who was physically deported despite having permission to live and work in the U.S. temporarily under DACA, left the country without first making arrangements that would have preserved his […]

NEW ORLEANS, March 22, 2017 — A federal district court ruled today that the state law preventing a Louisiana man from marrying is likely unconstitutional and issued an order to prevent the law from harming Louisianans. The court read extensive prepared findings from the bench and announced that a written order would follow. This ruling […]

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2017 — In an executive order issued on January 25, President Donald Trump directed the Office of Management and Budget to compile a list of federal funds given to sanctuary jurisdictions. Though it does not specifically list what sources of funding are at risk, the order also directed the U.S. attorney general […]

NEW YORK, Jan. 28, 2017 — A federal judge in New York has granted a nationwide stay of removal preventing the Trump administration from deporting refugees and others who had lawful authority to enter the United States. The order issued by Judge Ann Donnelly of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New […]

PHOENIX, Sept. 13, 2016 — Immigrant and civil rights groups have filed a legal challenge to Arizona’s policy of denying certain lawfully present immigrants access to driver’s licenses. The National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), and the Ortega Law Firm filed a federal class-action lawsuit in Phoenix […]

NEW YORK, NY, Aug. 25, 2016 – A first-of-its-kind lawsuit today opened up a new front in the defense of the Obama administration’s 2014 immigration relief initiatives, known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (expanded DACA). The lawsuit filed in the U.S. […]

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18, 2016 — Today, groups made public damning evidence, including expert testimony and video stills illustrating the deplorable and unconstitutional conditions detained individuals are subjected to in Border Patrol custody in the agency’s Tucson Sector. The court rejected the Border Patrol’s effort to conceal evidence of inhumane and abusive detention practices from […]