|
Our mission is to protect and promote the rights and opportunities
of low-income immigrants and their family members. NILC staff
specialize in immigration law and the employment and public benefits
rights of immigrants. We conduct policy analysis and
impact litigation and provide publications, technical advice, and
trainings to a broad constituency of legal aid agencies, community
groups, and pro bono attorneys. |
|
|
Search |
|
|
About NILC |
|
Our
latest brochure |
 |
|
|
Immigrants' Rights Update
newsletter
Latest
issue: 6/10/09 |
|
Guide to Immigrant Eligibility for Federal Programs
UPDATE PAGE
"Overview of Immigrant Eligibility for Federal Programs" table updated
4/1/09 |
|
Community Education Materials
"Federal Guidance on Public
Charge" updated 5/1/09
Know-Your-Rights
Alerts |
|
Publications |
|
Trainings |
|
|
Resources for Disaster Survivors |
|
|
Links
(includes links to blogs) |
|
|
Low-Income Immigrant Rights
Conference
December 6-8, 2007
Video and
transcript
of keynote address
Workshop materials |
|
|
California Immigrant Policy Center
(formerly California Immigrant Welfare
Collaborative, or CIWC) |
|
|
RECENT RESEARCH |
|
Democracy in the Age of
New Media: A Report on the Media and the Immigration Debate
"The media have given voice to strongly felt and
well-defined views at either end of the policy spectrum.
Meanwhile, the broad middle in American public opinion
favors a mix of policy options on immigration, but that
segment's views are marked by uncertainty and anxiety about
the topic and skepticism about government's ability to
handle it. This reflects the way the immigration
narrative has been framed by the media for a generation."
The Brookings Institution |
|
A Child Alone & Without
Papers
Reveals what happens to more than 43,000 undocumented,
unaccompanied children removed annually from the U.S. and
repatriated to their home countries: The U.S. often
compromises children's rights, safety, and well-being,
contrary to international law and U.S. child welfare
standards.
Center for Public Policy Priorities |
|
Paying the Price: The
Impact of Immigration Raids on America's Children
For every two immigrants apprehended, one child is left
behind. Potentially thousands of children have been
separated from their parents as a result of recent
immigration enforcement activities, and literally millions
more may be at risk. Two-thirds of affected children
are U.S. citizens or legal residents. In addition, the
impact on the social structures that support children is
profoundly negative. One of the effects of enforcing
the law is that school systems and child care providers must
prepare for the likelihood of substantial numbers of their
children being left without care, without warning.
The Urban Institute |
|
Immigration and Child
and Family Policy
"A large and growing share of low-income children lives
in immigrant families.... This report assesses how the
changing demographics of the low-income child population are
affecting child and family policies in the United States."
The Urban Institute |
|
|
|
|
Important Developments
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LAWSUIT CHALLENGES DETENTION CONDITIONS
News Release:
Immigration Officials Sued for Holding Detainees in
Appalling Conditions at Los Angeles Detention
Facility (Castellano et al. v. Napolitano).
The lawsuit, filed April 1, 2009, charges that ICE
detains immigrants in egregious, unsanitary
conditions, without soap, drinking water, toothpaste
or toothbrushes, sanitary napkins, changes of
clothing, or showers. (A copy of the complaint
is available
here.) (Posted 4/2/09) |
|
|
|
|
LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ISSUES
More Questions Than Answers about the Secure Communities Program.
"Secure Communities" applies to immigrants regardless of their guilt
or innocence, how or why they were arrested, and whether or not
their arrests were based on racial or ethnic profiling or were just
a pretext for checking immigration status. ICE fact sheets and press
releases leave many critical questions unanswered. (Posted 3/24/09) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
IMMIGRATION REFORM & ALLEVIATING POVERTY
Legalizing Undocumented Immigrants: An Essential Tool in Fighting
Poverty (By NILC's Jonathan Blazer & Josh Bernstein,
CLEARINGHOUSE REVIEW, Nov.-Dec. 2008). Immigration
reform that both broadly legalizes undocumented immigrants currently
here and legalizes future immigration flows would (1) improve the
economic well-being of legalized immigrants and their families, who are
disproportionately low-income; (2) have a positive economic impact on
other low-income individuals and on economic recovery and growth; and
(3) create political space for broader antipoverty legislation. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
JOB OPENINGS
|
|
|
ADVOCACY RESOURCE
Pro-Immigrant Media Campaigns |
|
|
ADVOCACY RESOURCE
Litany of
Abuses:
More - Not Fewer - Labor Protections Needed in
the H-2A Guestworker Program
In response to recent changes to the H-2A
program, Farmworker Justice released this
report, which documents abuses that have
occurred due to lack of enforcement and
oversight. The report argues that the DOL's
changes, which have been
finalized, will only make a bad program
worse. The cases the report lists are just
the tip of the iceberg, because guest workers
are often reluctant to complain. The report
highlights the program's negative impact on U.S.
workers as well. In one case, a grower in
Arizona replaced nearly his entire U.S.
workforce with guest workers.
Farmworker Justice |
|
|
ADVOCACY RESOURCE
Interpreting
after the Largest ICE Raid in U.S. History: A
Personal Account
REQUIRED READING for any immigrant rights
advocate. One brief excerpt: "It is
no secret that the Postville [Iowa] ICE raid was
a pilot operation, to be replicated elsewhere,
with kinks ironed out after lessons learned.
Next time, 'fast-tracking' will be even more
relentless. Never before has illegal
immigration been criminalized in this fashion."
(By Erik Camayd-Freixas, Ph.D., a
certified federal court interpreter)
"Duke's" blog on
The Sanctuary |
|
|
ADVOCACY RESOURCE
"Human trafficking is a form of modern-day
slavery...
[A]pproximately 20,000 men, women and children
are trafficked into [the U.S.] every year. Many
are forced to work in the sex trade, while
others are forced to work in sweatshops, the
fields and private homes."
Resources for helping
victims of trafficking are available on
the website of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los
Angeles. |
|
|
ADVOCACY RESOURCE
Rights Begin
at Home: Defending Domestic
Workers' Rights in California
An advocates' handbook available from the
website of the
National Employment Law
Project. |
|
|
ADVOCACY RESOURCE
Information
about what workers can do about employment discrimination is
available from the Office of Special Counsel for
Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices.
More
information about the OSC and provisions in immigration law intended
to protect workers is available HERE. |
|
|
NILC's
2006 Annual report
(Posted 6/19/07; best viewed with Adobe
Reader.) |
|
Guide to Immigrant Eligibility
for Federal Programs
now available at reduced price! |
|
|
|