This toolkit was compiled principally by Cristina Chávez, with contributions from Alejandro Angarita. It was edited by Tanya Broder.
Improving Access to Postsecondary Education for Immigrant Students:
Resources on State Campaigns for Tuition Equity, Scholarships, and Financial Aid
A comprehensive online advocacy toolkit divided into the following sections: Background on Tuition Equity Measures; State Laws & Policies; Student Profiles; Estimates of Eligible Students; Sample State Fiscal Analyses; Social & Economic Impact of Improving Access to Higher Education for Immigrant Students; Public Opinion; Legal Challenges; Resources for Organizers; and Resources on Financial Aid, Scholarships & Student Advocacy Groups.
Published by NILC, October 2012.
FROM THE CONCLUSION
“Stories reported by callers ... make clear that the principal effect of attrition-through-enforcement laws ... is to engender and incubate an environment of hostility and discrimination sanctioned by the state. HB 56’s enactment and implementation ratcheted up racial tensions in Alabama by legitimizing, in the eyes of many law enforcement officers and private citizens ..., an already powerful tendency to view others principally through—and jump to conclusions about them based on—the lens of ethnic and racial appearance.”
Racial Profiling After HB 56:
Stories from the Alabama Hotline
Incidents reported by callers to the hotline reveal three dangerous trends: that the enactment of HB 56 has created a damaging environment of racial profiling by law enforcement officials; that the law’s provisions constitute state-sanctioned discrimination that, in turn, encourages private citizens to discriminate against and abuse people they suspect may be “foreign”; and that the provision requiring Alabama school officials to determine the immigration status of enrolled students (or that of their parents) has discouraged attendance and encouraged discrimination based on students’ appearance and perceived ethnicity.
Because the federal district court in Alabama declined to enjoin provisions in HB 56 that are similar to the “show-me-your-papers” provision of Arizona’s SB 1070, what began to happen in Alabama last fall provides a clear and deeply troubling preview of what we’re likely to see soon in Arizona, as well as in any other states that enact or enforce SB 1070 or HB 56 copycats.
Published by NILC, August 2012, 11 pp.
PUBLISHED JOINTLY BY
Washington Defender Association
Immigrant Legal Resource Center
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild
National Immigration Law Center
Immigrant Defense Project
The All-in-One Guide to Defeating ICE Hold Requests (aka Immigration Detainers)
This toolkit is designed to help communities prevent deportations by keeping local police separate from immigration enforcement. The essential link between police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcment (ICE) is the ICE hold request, also known as an immigration detainer. On the basis of ICE hold requests, state and local police hold people in jail longer in order to hand them over to ICE.
Even if federal enforcement initiatives such as Secure Communities, 287(g), and the Criminal Alien Program continue to operate, they are only as effective as ICE hold requests allow them to be. Several communities have succeeded in enacting policies to stop submitting to ICE hold requests, and this toolkit is designed to help other communities establish similar policies.
Published by Washington Defender Association, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, National Immigration Law Center, and Immigrant Defense Project, 2012, 42 pp.
MAPS FROM THE REPORT
Status of Arizona-inspired Legislation Passed in 2011
Current State E-Verify Laws and Policies
Bills to Improve or Restrict Access to Higher Education Introduced or
Enacted in 2011
State Immigration-related Legislation:
Last Year’s Key Battles Set the Stage for 2012
In 2011, state legislators introduced a record number of immigration-related measures, but, all-told, states enacted fewer measures than many had predicted after the conservative political shift associated with the 2010 state elections.
This wrap-up summarizes 2011’s battles in four key areas that, in 2012, will continue to play a prominent role in states’ debates: (1) laws inspired by Arizona’s SB 1070, the contentious bill passed in 2009; (2) laws mandating E-Verify enrollment and use; (3) laws requiring applicants for public benefits to verify their citizenship or immigration status; and (4) laws addressing immigrants’ access to higher education.
Published by NILC, Jan. 2012, 12 pp.
Listen to a recording of the telephonic press briefing about this report.
Deportation Without Due Process:
The U.S. Has Used Its "Stipulated Removal" Program to Deport More Than 160,000 Noncitizens Without Hearings Before Immigration Judges
Using a little-known government program, the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security has pushed nearly 160,000 immigrants — many with deep ties to the United States — through an expedited deportation process, sometimes without adequately informing them of their right to a day in court, according to a new analysis of thousands of pages of released government documents.
The report, written by attorneys and law professors at Stanford Law School, NILC, and Western State University College of Law, determined that DHS agents administering the program provided legally inaccurate portrayals of the opportunities to remain in the U.S. in order to boost deportation numbers, even though judges and others involved in the program voiced their concerns about how the program short-circuited individuals’ rights.
Published by NILC, Western State Immigration Clinic, & Stanford Law School Immigrants' Rights Clinic, Sept. 2011, 30 pp.
NEWS RELEASE: Immigrant Detainee Rights Are Routinely, Systematically Violated, New Report Finds (7/28/09)
Testimony of Jose Pop Macz, former detainee (7/28/09)
Preliminary Report on Immigration Detention Conditions at South Louisiana Correctional Facility, Basile, Louisiana, by the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice (7/28/09)
A Broken System:
Confidential Reports Reveal Failures in U.S. Immigrant Detention Centers
This report presents the first-ever system-wide look at the federal government’s compliance with its own standards regulating immigrant detention facilities, a view based on previously unreleased first-hand reports of monitoring inspections. The results reveal substantial and pervasive violations of the government’s minimum standards for conditions at such facilities.
As a result, over 320,000 immigrants locked up each year not only face tremendous obstacles to challenging wrongful detention or winning their immigration cases, but the conditions in which these civil detainees are held often are as bad as or worse than those faced by imprisoned criminals.
Published by NILC, July 2009; 170 pp.
Guide Update Page
Guide to Immigrant Eligibility for Federal Programs (Fourth Edition, 2002)
Comprehensive, authoritative reference with chapters on 23 major federal programs and tables outlining who is eligible for which state replacement programs. Overview chapter and tables explain changes to immigrant eligibility enacted by 1996 welfare and immigration laws. Text describes immigration statuses, gives pictures of typical immigration documents, with keys to understanding the immigration codes. Glossary defines over 250 immigration and public benefits terms.
Published by NILC, 2002. ISBN 0967980208, 222 pp.: perfect bound. More information and how to order here.
