In this era of mass deportation, where immigrants with convictions have been singled out by DHS as a primary target for deportation, IDP works to develop and expand strategies to identify opportunities to expand rights within the criminal legal system. Working in close collaboration with allies, IDP researches multiple points of intervention — including local, state, and federal policy, as well as policing practices, judicial and prosecutorial practices, state penal codes, and litigation possibilities — to maximize rights for noncitizens and citizens. We particularly focus advocacy efforts on areas where immigration consequences of criminal conviction are particularly severe (e.g., drug and sex offenses); with heavily policed constituencies (e.g., communities of color, LGBTQ people, domestic violence survivors, and youth).
