News

DHS Enforcement Guidance: Practice Advisories for Immigration and Criminal Defense Attorneys (Updated June 2023)

June 2023 Update: On June 23, 2023 the Supreme Court decided in U.S. v. Texas that states cannot challenge the administration’s enforcement priorities that guide immigration arrests and deportation.  Texas and Louisiana had tried to block DHS’s 2021 enforcement guidance/prosecutorial discretion memo (“Mayorkas memo”).  Although the decision did not automatically reinstate this memo, it appears likely that this will happen. In light of … Read more »

IDP’s Impact in 2021: Remarkable Victories in Challenging Times

Dear Friends of IDP, We started 2021 with the promise of renewed opportunities to reverse some of the deeply harmful practices of the previous administration. Despite the Biden administration’s promises to bring humanity to the immigration system, we have seen blatant racist and violent treatment of Haitians at the border, the defense of Trump-era policies in court, and the continued … Read more »

IDP Summer Internship

The Immigrant Defense Project (IDP) is a national nonprofit advocacy organization that promotes fundamental fairness for immigrants accused or convicted of crimes. IDP seeks to minimize the harsh and disproportionate immigration consequences of contact with the criminal legal system by working to transform unjust deportation laws and policies, and by educating and advising immigrants, their criminal defenders, and other advocates. … Read more »

Resource: ICE Knows That You’re In DOCCS 

IDP has put together a resource that provides critical information to immigrants who are facing time in NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) or who are currently in DOCCS custody. Even though ICE and DOCCS have established close collaboration over the past few decades, people entering into or in DOCCS custody often have very little information on what … Read more »

IDP Statement: DHS’s Deportation Memo Reinforces Flawed Policies of the Past

September 30, 2021 New York, NY — Today, the Department of Homeland Security released a new deportation memo that continues to reinforce the role of policing and incarceration as a feeder into the deportation system. The memo responds to substantial advocacy by acknowledging the harms of taking a one-dimensional approach to immigration policing, and its deportation categories appear less rigid … Read more »

IDP Welcomes New Executive Director Jonathan Monsalve

After a nationwide search, we are thrilled to announce that Jonathan Monsalve has been selected as the Immigrant Defense Project’s next Executive Director. With a record of success building and growing mission-driven programs, Jon will bring vital leadership to IDP at a moment of critical growth. As the criminalization of immigrants has become more entrenched, the need for IDP’s advocacy … Read more »

Op-Ed: DOJ Immigration Reform Must Overturn Harmful Precedent, by Andrew Wachtenheim

Law360 published an op-ed by Andrew Wachtenheim, IDP’s Supervising Litigation Attorney, analyzing a body of administrative law opinions that wrongly attach harsh and unauthorized immigration consequences to past contact with the criminal legal system, with discriminatory impact on immigrants of color. The op-ed focuses on precedent decisions published by the Board of Immigration Appeals and Office of the Attorney General … Read more »

Best Practices Guide to Screening for Immigration Consequences In New York Family Court, with Supporting Materials

The best practices guide and supporting materials below are designed to help family court counsel identify when to work with an immigration attorney in a client’s case and navigate the complexities of incorporating immigration concerns into their representation. Actions taken in family court, such as admissions to non-citizen status, findings that the respondent has violated an order of protection, or … Read more »

Updated Practice Advisory: “Realistic Probability” in Immigration Categorical Approach Cases

Immigrant Defense Project and NIPNLG have issued a new national-scope practice advisory entitled “Realistic Probability” in Immigration Categorical Approach Cases (June 3, 2021).  The practice advisory discusses the origins of the “realistic probability” concept in immigration law, national case law on realistic probability, and litigation issues currently before the immigration agencies and federal courts.  The new advisory is an update to … Read more »

Legal Analysis of New DHS Courthouse Arrest Policy (April 2021)

In April of 2021, DHS issued a revised courthouse arrest policy clarifying its position on when ICE and CBP officials can conduct civil immigration arrests in or near courthouses. For a brief explanation and analysis of the memorandum, please see IDP’s Legal Analysis of April 27, 2021 DHS Memorandum “Civil Immigration Enforcement Actions in or near Courthouses.”

Lawsuit Seeks Documents on ICE’s “Vigilante Training” Programs

Lawsuit Filed Under Freedom of Information Act May 11, 2021, Chicago –  Today, immigrant rights groups sued Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), to compel ICE to release documents pertaining to its operation of so-called “Citizens Academy” programs. These programs are spearheaded by ICE’s public relations offices and one of the ways that ICE subverts … Read more »

CLE Training: Steps to Analyze the Immigration Impact of Criminal Contact and Convictions for Immigrant Clients

What you will learn: Contact with the criminal legal system can create unique risks and complications for an immigrant client. The Immigrant Defense Project Helpline provides individualized analysis of the effect of any contact with the criminal legal system on a person’s immigration status and gives clear, accurate, individualized advice to legal service providers by serving as “crim-imm” experts. This … Read more »

Legal Service Provider CLEs – Spring 2021 Series

Description IDP is offering a free online training series in the months of May and June. The goal of this series is to train immigration attorneys and advocates, DOJ-accredited representatives, and support staff on issues at the intersection of criminal law and immigration law. The series will cover issues related to advising clients who have had contact with the criminal … Read more »

New York State Legislature Passes Marijuana Reform Bill Including Positive Changes for Immigrant New Yorkers

Today, the New York legislature reversed years of harmful criminalization by passing the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, which creates a legal recreational marijuana market in New York and expands the medical marijuana program. For years, New York marijuana convictions have caused immeasurable harm to immigrant communities across New York State. Marijuana prohibition has fueled the disproportionate arrest rate of … Read more »

IDP on Passage of Dream & Promise Act and Farm Workforce Modernization Act

Today the House passed the American Dream and Promise Act and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, bringing millions of immigrants who came to the US as kids, who are eligible for Temporary Protected Status or Deferred Enforced Departure, or who worked in agriculture, one step closer to permanent protection and access to life-sustaining resources, opportunities, and care. Yet this step … Read more »

Sen. Salazar, AM Reyes Announce Legislation to Keep State, Local Agencies from Conspiring with ICE

ALBANY – Senator Julia Salazar and Assembly Member Karines Reyes, joined by members of the immigrant advocacy, faith, and public health communities came together today to announce The New York for All Act, which prohibits state and local government officials, including police and sheriffs, from diverting personnel and resources or disclosing sensitive information to assist federal immigration enforcement. The New York for All … Read more »

IDP Statement on President Biden’s Executive Orders

February 2, 2021 As we awaken from the nightmare of Trump’s presidency, we are relieved to see President Biden responding to years of organizing against the racism and xenophobia that has fueled immigration policing, detention and deportation over the last four years.  President Biden’s executive orders on immigration represent an important acknowledgment that the current immigration system’s policies and practices … Read more »

ICE Policing Through the Pandemic

December 17th, 2020 By Immigrant Defense Project and Center for Constitutional Rights On November 17, 2020, at 4:45 AM, five plain-clothes agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) climbed the side of a building in south Brooklyn and attempted to enter a second floor apartment. They banged on windows, breaking one, and threatened the tenants on the ground floor–if they didn’t let … Read more »