Public Counsel’s Immigrants’ Rights Project (IRP) provides legal representation to individuals in the following areas:

Asylum

IRP provides representation to individuals seeking asylum in the United States based on past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of political opinion, race, religion, nationality, or membership in a particular social group. IRP represents clients from all over the world for whom the U.S. is the last place of refuge and where return to their home country may mean death or torture. Depending on the procedural posture of a case, asylum applicants are provided representation in administrative trials before Immigration Judges, on appeal before the Board of Immigration Appeals, an administrative appellate body, and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In some cases, representation is provided in non-adversarial proceedings before the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

Assisting Battered Immigrants to File Self-Petitions to the INS Under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

IRP provides legal representation to immigrant men, women and children who have been physically abused or subjected to extreme mental cruelty by a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, spouse or parent. VAWA allows the battered immigrant victim to self-petition the INS to immigrate herself or himself without the knowledge or cooperation of the abusive spouse or parent. Normally, it is the U.S. citizen or lawful resident spouse or parent who controls the immigration process. VAWA also permits the battered immigrant to leave the abusive relationship without being subject to deportation by the INS.

Assisting Immigrants Under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (VTPA)

IRP assists victims of trafficking and other violent crime who are eligible for immigration benefits because of their cooperation with United States law enforcement efforts. The recently enacted VTPA created new types of visas to insure that victims of crime would not fear cooperating with United States law enforcement agencies. Once the U.S. government certifies that a non-citizen has cooperated with government criminal investigations, that non-citizen may become eligible for lawful permanent residency. IRP conducts outreach on this new law and provides representation to those that the law protects.

Assisting Abandoned or Abused Children

IRP represents abused or abandoned children who have no lawful immigration status. These children can obtain permanent residency under a federal law known as Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. IRP works jointly with the Children’s Rights Project to insure that these children are identified and then helped to secure permanent residency. These children have been abandoned due to the death of a parent or parents, or have fled severe abuse by their parents or other relative caregivers.

Representation in Unusual Immigration Cases Involving Compelling Humanitarian or Public Policy Issues

IRP has always tried to serve as a place of last resort for unusual and compelling cases involving non-citizens. For example, IRP has provided representation to non-citizens with severe physical or mental illnesses or difficult pregnancies whose well being would have been jeopardized by deportation from the United States. IRP has provided representation to material witnesses in criminal civil rights investigations and grand jury proceedings. IRP has provided representation to a child facing de facto deportation from the U.S. pursuant to a state dependency court order, successfully obtaining an injunction from a U.S. district court based on a federal preemption and supremacy clause argument. IRP has provided representation to non-citizen striking construction workers after INS arrests and deportation proceedings were used in an effort to end a wildcat strike.

Impact Litigation

IRP litigates class action matters involving immigrants and asylum seekers. Past litigation has involved challenges to the competency of court interpreters used by the Immigration Courts in Southern California and challenges to conditions of detention and adequacy of medical care for persons detained in INS custody. Such litigation usually is done in conjunction with one or more pro bono law firms acting as co-counsel.

Over 100 volunteer attorneys and students currently provide our clients with representation under the supervision of project staff. Project staff also provide direct representation to clients and are actively involved in community education and training.