News

Due to the high demand for our services from indigent immigrants and appointed counsel, we ask private counsel to make a contribution before seeking advice. Your contribution will help sustain our consult work for all by offsetting the cost of providing you with guidance. Note that IDP recommends you consult with a tax expert about this contribution. Contributions to nonprofit … Read more »

Representing Immigrant Defendants in New York, 5th Edition Detailed, practical, straightforward, and up-to-date information to help defense attorneys Understanding and Fulfilling Your Duty to Immigrant Clients Defending Immigrants Partnership An unprecedented collaboration the country’s foremost immigration advocacy and defense organizations Criminal-Immigration Helpline Expert advice and support for immigrants and their loved ones Criminal-Immigration Roundtable IDP’s monthly meeting brings together advocates … Read more »

This year marks the 20th anniversary of harsh immigration laws that ushered in a devastating era of mass deportation. These laws – the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA) and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) of 1996 – vastly expanded the pool of non-citizens marked out for “removal,” led to the creation of a massive, … Read more »

News dropped last week that the Obama administration was planning a month-long “surge” of immigration raids targeting Central American mothers and children. The blowback was swift. Immigrant advocates and Democrats – including the presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders – came out against the raids, with Clinton saying she is “against large scale raids that tear families apart and sow fear … Read more »

No Matter the Target, Immigration Raids Are Inhumane By Mizue Aizeki Deputy Director, Immigrant Defense Project Critics of the federal government’s latest wave of deportations—which started with predawn raids in early January and saw 121 Central American asylum seekers, many of them children and parents, grabbed from their homes by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents—correctly argue that such tactics are … Read more »

Representing Immigrant Defendants in New York, 5th Edition Over 20 percent of New York State residents are foreign-born, according to the U.S. Census, and many are non-citizens who may be easily subject to detention and deportation for criminal convictions. Through a well-organized explanation and analysis of the relevant law – along with our renowned two-page “Immigration Consequences of Crimes Summary Checklist” … Read more »

IDP also develops accessible resources for community-based organizations focused on the intersection between the criminal justice and immigration systems and for directly impacted community members. Given the complexity and urgency of “crim-imm” issues, and the need to disrupt narratives around them, we are committed to developing creative materials, utilizing storytelling, personal narratives, and graphics. Through our collaboration with a broad base of … Read more »

IDP Train-the Trainers IDP offers substantive Know Your Rights Train-the-Trainer presentations to equip community members and advocates for training others on ICE enforcement and strategies for invoking legal rights.  A video and materials from our most recent training are available here. To be notified about other know your rights training opportunities in the future, fill out this form. For other questions, email [email protected]. … Read more »

The U.S is deporting people at a record pace (close to 400,000 a year!) and the rapidly expanding collaboration between police and immigration is a key tool. Immigrant communities urgently need tools to protect and expand their rights. Immigrant Defense Project initiated DANGER! Police Involvement in Mass Deportation in 2013 in work to end police collaboration with ICE with our allies the Sex … Read more »

This article was first published on October 23, 2015 at CQ Researcher. Is U.S. Immigrant-Detention Policy Justified? By Mizue Aizeki Deputy Director, Immigrant Defense Project Is it justifiable to imprison more than 400,000 people each year — including longtime green card holders, children and families, trafficking survivors and asylum seekers — for civil violations of immigration law? To lock them … Read more »

This article was originally published at the Huffington Post, on November 13, 2015. Judges Call for Curb on Immigration Detention, Administration Should Listen — and Act By Andrew Wachtenheim, IDP Staff Attorney The federal court decision blocking the president’s executive actions on immigration wasn’t the only significant judicial intervention in immigration policy in recent days. In late October, another court found against … Read more »

Supreme Court reins in some drug deportations, but deeper reforms needed June 05, 2015, 08:00 am By Alisa Wellek The United States Supreme Court ruled this week that the federal government went too far in seeking to deport immigrants for certain low-level drug-related offenses. Moones Mellouli, a legal permanent resident and math teacher originally from Tunisia, was deported after pleading guilty … Read more »

IDP applauds the April 10th Order of Attorney General Eric Holder vacating Matter of Silva-Trevino, 24 I&N Dec. 287 (AG 2008), a highly problematic decision that has led to the unjust deportation of many immigrants from the United States. This action by the sitting Attorney General is a tremendous step in the restoration of justice and due process to immigrants facing possible … Read more »

For decades, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) used its office trailer on Rikers Island, one of the world’s largest jails, as a base for funneling thousands of New Yorkers into a mass detention and deportation machine that tears apart families and violates human rights. On Valentine’s Day, 2015, the Immigrant Defense Project celebrated the #bestbreakupever. February 14, 2015 was the first day that … Read more »

For Immediate Release: Immigrants Rights Advocates, Legal Service Providers and Faith Leaders Applaud the Introduction of Bill to End NYC’s Collaboration with Unjust Deportation Machinery Bill would protect immigrant families, draw clear line between local and immigration law enforcement, and make the city safer New York – Leading immigrants rights organizations from across the city who have worked for years … Read more »

This year, we experienced the landmark of 2 million deportations in the past six years and the flat lining of Congressional efforts to enact comprehensive immigration reform. While these two facts are well known, the reality that an unprecedented number of families have been permanently separated as a result, depriving hundreds of thousands of American children the opportunity to be … Read more »

On June 30, 2014, in People v. Baret, the New York State Court of Appeals held that Padilla does not apply retroactively in N.Y. State, thereby elevating “sterile legal doctrine” over humanity and justice, according to Chief Judge Lippman. IDP has responded with an advisory detailing strategies to achieve post-conviction relief after Baret. Although this decision may insulate many unjust pre-Padilla convictions … Read more »