The core of ILD’s work is to provide legal access to people impacted by immigration abuses and exclusions. Our team represents thousands of low-income individuals each year on matters ranging from DACA cases to complex removal defenses. We work with unaccompanied minors, asylum-seeking families, students and their families, people detained in immigration facilities, and both newcomer and long-term residents of US communities. Each year, our team also represents dozens of Franco class members (individuals who have been determined by the immigration court to be unable to represent themselves due to mental health disabilities) as part of the National Qualified Representative Program. We represent our clients before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the immigration courts (EOIR), the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the district courts, the Courts of Appeal, and the California superior courts. Our team is made up of nationally recognized experts in detained and non-detained removal defense, crimmigration, asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, DACA, and complex affirmative-based relief.

We represent clients throughout the state of California, with a particular focus on underserved areas in remote Northern California, the Central Valley, and the Central Coast, as well as a limited number of individuals detained in Texas, Georgia, and the Midwest. Equipped to provide the vast majority of our services remotely, our team is able to reach a greater number of people, particularly in isolated regions that have historically lacked access to counsel. Like this, we are making immigration legal access — which should be a civil right for all — a reality for thousands of low-income clients each year.