we partner with educational institutions

ILD provides on-campus legal services in direct partnership with educational institutions to ensure that students have easy access to free, trustworthy counsel that provides the security and stability students need to focus on their education and their futures. We partner with 9 California State University (CSU) campuses, 34 California Community College (CCC) campuses, and the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) to respond to the urgent and previously unaddressed immigration legal needs of thousands of Californians. 

Immigrants, especially those who are undocumented, are increasingly fearful and stressed by national anti-immigrant rhetoric and federal immigration laws and policies, such as ongoing attempts to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). In this increasingly complex and ever-changing legal and federal policy environment, ILD’s consultations help students and their family members, as well as staff and faculty, understand their and their families’ immigration options, receive caring and competent legal support, and remain informed of current immigration law and policy so that they can focus on their studies, their careers, their families, and their futures.  

Our partnerships with schools and school systems allow us to reach long-term residents of California, including Dreamers, who have lacked access to free, high-quality legal services, as well as recently-arrived unaccompanied minors and asylum seekers in active removal proceedings. ILD provides full-scope representation on matters ranging from DACA to complex removal defense. It collaborates with our campus partners to conduct regular training and presentations on immigration law and policy so that students, employees, and families can better understand the broader system and their protections within it. Our regular blog and our podcast with the Fresno State Dream Success Center allow us to reach additional community members with up-to-date information on immigration law, policies, and practices that affect their lives, choices, and futures.

  • higher education partnerships

    In 2019, in close collaboration with the California Department of Social Services and the CSU system, ILD launched the CSU Immigration Services Project to provide free, on-campus immigration legal services, as well as education and outreach services, to students, staff, faculty, and their families as well as recent alumni. It is the first large-scale, free legal services program fully funded by a state agency in service of a state university system. In 2022, ILD worked with the California Department of Social Services and the Foundation for California Community Colleges to expand ILD's services to 34 CCCs in some of California's most remote regions. Providing the CSU and CCC campuses with access to free immigration legal services equips immigrants with accurate information and a better understanding of immigration benefits for which they might qualify and provides the skilled, compassionate attorneys needed to navigate the complexities of the immigration system.

    CSU CAMPUS COMMUNITIES ILD SERVES:

    San Francisco State University

    San José State University

    California State University East Bay

    California State University Maritime Academy California State University Stanislaus

    California State University Fresno

    California State University Bakersfield

    California State University Monterey Bay

    California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo

    Program Flyer

    CCC CAMPUS COMMUNITIES ILD SERVES:

    Barstow College

    Berkeley City College

    Butte College

    Cañada College

    Citrus College

    College of Marin

    College of the Canyons

    College of the Redwoods

    College of the Siskiyous

    Columbia College

    Contra Costa College

    Copper Mountain College

    Crafton Hills College

    De Anza College

    Evergreen Valley College

    Feather River College

    Golden West College

    Lake Tahoe Community College

    Las Positas College

    Lassen College

    Mendocino College

    Mission College

    Ohlone College

    Oxnard College

    San José City College

    Santiago Canyon College

    Shasta College

    Sierra College

    Skyline College

    Solano Community College

    Taft College

    Victor Valley College

    West Valley College

    Yuba College

    Program Flyer

  • K-12 educational partnerships

    ILD’s partnership with the Oakland Unified School District specializes in representing unaccompanied minors in Kindergarten through 12th grade, as well as family cases, many of whom are indigenous Mam Mayan. OUSD is a large urban school district serving one of the highest numbers of socioeconomically disadvantaged unaccompanied minors and migrant families in the nation. It has set a national example by being the first large US school district to invest in a team dedicated to supporting newly arrived students and families in removal proceedings. Together, we leverage our expertise to deliver emergency legal services, offered within the context of OUSD’s existing Community School model and wraparound services, to students and their families throughout dozens of Oakland schools.

    This work began in 2014 when members of the ILD team formed an innovative partnership — the only of its kind in the country — with OUSD schools and district staff to provide free, high-quality immigration legal services to students in Kindergarten-12th grade and their families. This K-12 Education-Legal partnership is a nationally recognized model of best practice that ILD seeks to replicate throughout California to guarantee legal immigration access to every K-12 student in need.

    Forming a pipeline to legal services within a K-12 educational system is especially critical based on ILD’s experience working with students in higher education–many of whom have aged out of immigration relief because they did not meet with an immigration attorney in time.