News

No Matter the Target, Immigration Raids Are Inhumane By Mizue Aizeki Deputy Director, Immigrant Defense Project Critics of the federal government’s latest wave of deportations—which started with predawn raids in early January and saw 121 Central American asylum seekers, many of them children and parents, grabbed from their homes by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents—correctly argue that such tactics are … Read more »

Representing Immigrant Defendants in New York, 5th Edition Over 20 percent of New York State residents are foreign-born, according to the U.S. Census, and many are non-citizens who may be easily subject to detention and deportation for criminal convictions. Through a well-organized explanation and analysis of the relevant law – along with our renowned two-page “Immigration Consequences of Crimes Summary Checklist” … Read more »

IDP also develops accessible resources for community-based organizations focused on the intersection between the criminal justice and immigration systems and for directly impacted community members. Given the complexity and urgency of “crim-imm” issues, and the need to disrupt narratives around them, we are committed to developing creative materials, utilizing storytelling, personal narratives, and graphics. Through our collaboration with a broad base of … Read more »

IDP Train-the Trainers IDP offers substantive Know Your Rights Train-the-Trainer presentations to equip community members and advocates for training others on ICE enforcement and strategies for invoking legal rights.  A video and materials from our most recent training are available here. To be notified about other know your rights training opportunities in the future, fill out this form. For other questions, email [email protected]. … Read more »

The U.S is deporting people at a record pace (close to 400,000 a year!) and the rapidly expanding collaboration between police and immigration is a key tool. Immigrant communities urgently need tools to protect and expand their rights. Immigrant Defense Project initiated DANGER! Police Involvement in Mass Deportation in 2013 in work to end police collaboration with ICE with our allies the Sex … Read more »

This article was first published on October 23, 2015 at CQ Researcher. Is U.S. Immigrant-Detention Policy Justified? By Mizue Aizeki Deputy Director, Immigrant Defense Project Is it justifiable to imprison more than 400,000 people each year — including longtime green card holders, children and families, trafficking survivors and asylum seekers — for civil violations of immigration law? To lock them … Read more »

This article was originally published at the Huffington Post, on November 13, 2015. Judges Call for Curb on Immigration Detention, Administration Should Listen — and Act By Andrew Wachtenheim, IDP Staff Attorney The federal court decision blocking the president’s executive actions on immigration wasn’t the only significant judicial intervention in immigration policy in recent days. In late October, another court found against … Read more »

This article was originally published at Huffington Post. New York Leads the Way on Immigrant Defense By Manny Vargas Immigrants in criminal proceedings in the U.S. face the very real threat of deportation depending on how their cases come out, so it’s imperative that they get effective legal representation. Last week, New York became the first state in the nation … Read more »

Supreme Court reins in some drug deportations, but deeper reforms needed June 05, 2015, 08:00 am By Alisa Wellek The United States Supreme Court ruled this week that the federal government went too far in seeking to deport immigrants for certain low-level drug-related offenses. Moones Mellouli, a legal permanent resident and math teacher originally from Tunisia, was deported after pleading guilty … Read more »

IDP applauds the April 10th Order of Attorney General Eric Holder vacating Matter of Silva-Trevino, 24 I&N Dec. 287 (AG 2008), a highly problematic decision that has led to the unjust deportation of many immigrants from the United States. This action by the sitting Attorney General is a tremendous step in the restoration of justice and due process to immigrants facing possible … Read more »

For decades, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) used its office trailer on Rikers Island, one of the world’s largest jails, as a base for funneling thousands of New Yorkers into a mass detention and deportation machine that tears apart families and violates human rights. On Valentine’s Day, 2015, the Immigrant Defense Project celebrated the #bestbreakupever. February 14, 2015 was the first day that … Read more »

For Immediate Release: Immigrants Rights Advocates, Legal Service Providers and Faith Leaders Applaud the Introduction of Bill to End NYC’s Collaboration with Unjust Deportation Machinery Bill would protect immigrant families, draw clear line between local and immigration law enforcement, and make the city safer New York – Leading immigrants rights organizations from across the city who have worked for years … Read more »

This year, we experienced the landmark of 2 million deportations in the past six years and the flat lining of Congressional efforts to enact comprehensive immigration reform. While these two facts are well known, the reality that an unprecedented number of families have been permanently separated as a result, depriving hundreds of thousands of American children the opportunity to be … Read more »

On June 30, 2014, in People v. Baret, the New York State Court of Appeals held that Padilla does not apply retroactively in N.Y. State, thereby elevating “sterile legal doctrine” over humanity and justice, according to Chief Judge Lippman. IDP has responded with an advisory detailing strategies to achieve post-conviction relief after Baret. Although this decision may insulate many unjust pre-Padilla convictions … Read more »

Join Mekong NYC, IDP, and Families for Freedom for the NYC screening of “Cambodian Son” at MIST Harlem, 46 West 116th Street, April 27.  There is a reception at 2 pm and the film begins at 3 pm. This documentary follows the life of Kosal Khiev. Kosal was convicted as an adult of attempted murder at 15, served 14 years, … Read more »

IDP has been working with Howard Bailey, a veteran who was deported in 2012 to Jamaica, a country he had not seen in over 24 years. Read Howard’s story published April 11 in Politico Magazine. “I often think about Friday dinners with my family. Every Friday, no matter what, my wife and I took our two children out to eat; … Read more »

(left to right: Rick Jones, Manny Vargas, Jerry Cox, and Norman Reimer) On March 6, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) presented Manuel D. Vargas, senior counsel at the Immigrant Defense Project, with its Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was presented by NACDL President Jerry J. Cox at the opening of NACDL’s 2014 Midwinter Seminar & Meeting, which is devoted entirely to the … Read more »