Background IDP engages in litigation efforts to challenge the unjust detention of immigrants. Our ongoing work primarily focuses on habeas corpus petitions before the federal courts and bond litigation before immigration courts. Specifically, IDP has supported legal challenges to mandatory detention based on previous criminal convictions or classification as an “arriving alien,” detention pending a final order of removal where … Read more »
Background IDP engages in strategic litigation before both federal and New York State courts to ensure full and fair proceedings for noncitizen defendants facing criminal charges. Since its inception, IDP has worked to establish all immigrants’ constitutional rights before the criminal courts, including the right to effective assistance of counsel and the right to appeal convictions. IDP continues to build … Read more »
Background The United States has long offered protected status to those fleeing persecution abroad in the form of Asylum and Withholding of Removal. Under its obligations under the U.N. Refugee Convention to which the U.S. is a party, only the most serious criminal convictions that present actual danger to the community in the United States can bar a person from … Read more »
Background IDP supports litigants in cases addressing whether certain offenses are categorically deemed “crimes involving moral turpitude” under immigration law, advocating for the strict application of the categorical approach. Practice Advisories Practice Advisory: Litigating CIMT Theft Removal Charges and Adjudicative Retroactivity in the Second Circuit After Obeya v. Sessions (April 18, 2018, by IDP) Addendum: Exploring Applications of the Anti-Retroactivity Holding of Obeya … Read more »
Background IDP is engaged in litigation before the federal courts and BIA challenging government efforts to bar noncitizens from establishing eligibility for relief from removal or eligibility for lawful status solely because a “record of conviction” is merely ambiguous as to whether the conviction is for a disqualifying offense under immigration law. Under the government’s view, noncitizens could be barred … Read more »
Background IDP participates in litigation efforts to limit retroactive application of new laws and policies that restrict the rights of immigrants. For example, IDP has worked to prevent retroactive application of certain provisions of the 1996 laws, such as the repeal of former 212(c) relief and restrictions on re-entry for lawful permanent residents. Practice Advisories Matter of Abdelghany: Implications for … Read more »
Background IDP engages in strategic litigation before the immigration agencies and the federal courts in support of the conviction “finality rule,” which is the longstanding rule that a criminal conviction may not trigger certain immigration consequences unless all direct appeals of right have been exhausted or waived. Practice Advisories Amicus Briefs
Background The harsh penalties for drug use and sale have torn families and communities apart without providing the safety those communities deserve. IDP is working to end the double punishment of people with drug convictions and reverse the harms of the drug war for immigrant communities. In 1996, Congress enacted legislation hugely expanding the numbers of immigrants subject to mandatory … Read more »
Background IDP engages in litigation to defend the application of the “categorical approach” to safeguard fairness in immigration adjudications. Under the immigration laws, a noncitizen generally is not subject to negative immigration consequences, including removal, based on a criminal conviction unless that conviction fits categorically within one of the INA’s criminal removal grounds. The categorical approach requires adjudicators to determine whether … Read more »
For Immediate Release November 19, 2020 BREAKING: Judge Stops Trump Administration Efforts to Bar More from Asylum Just One Day Before They Were Slated to Go Into Effect, Federal Judge Enjoins Broad Rules That Would Have Vastly Expanded Categorical Bars to Asylum New York/Washington/San Francisco – On Thursday, a federal judge in the Northern District of California issued a nationwide … Read more »
October 2023 Update “Surge Operations” FOIA Litigation IDP et al. v. ICE et al., No. 1:20-cv-10625-RA (S.D.N.Y.)IDP et al. v. CBP et al., No. 1:22-cv-09920-RA (S.D.N.Y.)Requestors Immigrant Defense Project and Center for Constitutional Rights are represented by Andrew Wachtenheim, Ian Head, Ghita Schwarz, Mizue Aizeki, and Zee Scout.Court filings, administrative FOIA requests, relevant decisionsLegend:U.S. Department of Homeland Security = DHSU.S. … Read more »
For Immediate Release November 2, 2020 Immigration Groups File Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration Efforts to Bar More from Asylum Groups Say Broad Rules Could Bar Asylum Seekers Convicted of Low Level Offenses and Even People Who Are Not Convicted of a Crime New York/Washington/San Francisco – Four immigrant rights organizations—Pangea Legal Services, Dolores Street Community Services, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, … Read more »
From January 2017 through December 2018, IDP documented an alarming 1700% increase in ICE arrests and attempted arrests across New York State. In 2018, IDP documented 219 such incidents—a 27% increase over 2017 (updated to reflect additional reports received). To learn more about the impact of ICE policing at New York’s courts, read our January 2020 report, “Denied, Disappeared, and Deported: … Read more »
You probably know that people of color, which include immigrants, are disproportionately targeted in marijuana arrests by the police. You might not know that non-citizens get punished beyond the already harsh consequences of a marijuana conviction. Overnight, the lives they’ve built in the U.S. over decades can be destroyed. They can be torn from their families and exiled to a … Read more »
This resource by IDP and Make the Road NY explains what type of immigration case you could have if you are arrested by ICE and your rights depending on your type of case. When someone is detained by ICE, whether they can fight their case in front of an immigration judge or in another way depends on their past experience. … Read more »
Car Stops – Resource & Know Your Rights Handout IDP has developed a two-page resource explaining what to do if you are the driver or the passenger of a car that is stopped by ICE. Includes a two-page pullout sheet that explains your rights and what to say if ICE stops you in a car. Available here in English. Disponible … Read more »