Building Community-Driven Legal Services to Empower, Protect, and Defend Our Communities: Field Guide for Deportation Defense

Under the incoming Trump administration, all immigrants and refugees, regardless of status, must know their rights and information on available immigration relief and community resources. Legal capacity is critical but sorely limited and in need of robust expansion. Community education and guidance, through a Community Navigator training program, will be essential. Through the Legal Services Collective, NPNA will continue to strengthen the field’s legal infrastructure for service delivery and deportation defense; share and develop public education resources; assist and provide education to immigrant community members in applying for DACA renewals, TPS, Other Forms of Relief, and Naturalization; and expand our "Know Your Rights" community education work to protect and defend our communities.

CBP One Parolees

This article explains what is currently happening with immigration enforcement for people who entered the United States on parole through a CBP One appointment at the U.S.-Mexico border. Available in French, Haitian Kreyol, Dari, Pashto, Arabic, Ukrainian

Challenges of Return After Deportation

Individuals deported from the United States face enormous legal and practical barriers to being able to return and rejoin their families and communities in the future. These barriers often convert deportation into a prolonged, if not lifetime, exile from the United States. This report provides an overview of the significant—often impossible—hurdles faced by deported individuals who seek return to the United States under the current legal regime and offers administrative and legislative policy recommendations to reduce these barriers and allow unjustly or wrongfully deported individuals to return home.

CLINIC Court Watch: Federal Immigration Case Updates

Stay current with the latest federal court decisions shaping immigration law, policy, and practice across the country. CLINIC Court Watch is a monthly summary of significant rulings, ongoing litigation, and emerging trends in federal immigration cases. CLINIC Court Watch will include key takeaways from recent federal court decisions impacting immigration practitioners and their clients. Please note: case outcomes and procedural developments are subject to change as appeals proceed and courts issue further rulings.

Community Explainer: Laken Riley Act

The Laken Riley Act exploits a tragic murder to criminalize immigrant populations, vastly expand immigration detention, and encourage anti-immigrant states to file lawsuits against the federal government for certain immigration decisions it makes. This explainer breaks down what the Laken Riley Act means for our communities and how we can protect each other.

Community Pointers: Enforcement in Immigration Court

This resource provides pointers for the community on recent enforcement actions occurring at immigration courts. It describes what we are seeing, where we are seeing it, what to know, best practices, what not to do, and includes helpful resources.

Deportation Defense Manual

The purpose of this manual is to provide information, resources, and a guide to create a plan of action to protect targeted communities against the ongoing anti-immigrant attacks of the Trump administration. It is important to remember when we act together, we have the power to protect one another even when immigration laws and agents do not respect our community. This manual contains three sections: (1) Know Your Rights, (2) Rapid Response to Raids, and (3) Deportation Defense.

HR1 Fees at USCIS and EOIR

This practice advisory provides information about recently implemented fee increases at USCIS and EOIR. These fee increases are a result of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” also known as HR1. This advisory explores what we know and what we still don’t know about the fees, how to pay them, and potential future changes.

My Community Member Was Arrested by ICE - What Do I Do?

The checklist is meant to be used in the aftermath of an ICE arrest to determine the next steps to find the person who was detained and identify what assistance and support they and their family need. Available in English and Spanish.

Navigating EOIR Directives Under Trump 2.0: Practical Guidance for Advocates and Programs

Since returning to office, the Trump administration has issued a wave of executive orders, policy actions, memoranda, and guidance documents that significantly impact immigration law and the adjudication of cases. This resource seeks to highlight the key impacts of the new Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) memos for legal services providers (LSPs) and their clients and offers practical guidance for effective representation in immigration court. Last Updated: April 22, 2025

Oral Opposition to Dismissal Template for Pro Se Respondents

Beginning in May, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been orally requesting dismissal of both represented and unrepresented noncitizens’ removal proceedings in immigration court. Once the immigration judge grants dismissal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents then arrest the noncitizen in or around immigration court buildings with the goal of placing them in expedited removal. Expedited removal is a process through which ICE can detain someone without access to release under bond and deport a person without giving them a hearing in immigration court.This Oral Opposition to Dismissal Template for Pro Se Respondents provides pro se noncitizens guidance on how to oppose a DHS motion to dismiss.

Post-Deportation Self-Assessment Guide

This guide is intended as a self-assessment resource for individuals who have previously been deported want to return legally to the United States. This guide provides general information about immigration law and and does not constitute legal advice. This guide was originally prepared by the Post-Deportation Human Rights Project (PDHRP) in 2011 and was updated in 2023 by the National Immigration Project and Boston College's Center for Human Rights & International Justice.

Practice Advisory: Considerations in Asylum Claims for Transgender People

Practice Alert: Impact Of HR-1 On Trafficking Survivors

This Practice Alert will first explain the changes to USCIS and EOIR filing fees, and the new penalty fees to be imposed for certain immigration violations. Second, it will review changes to immigrant eligibility for public benefits as they relate to immigrant survivors of human trafficking. Finally, this Practice Alert will discuss how immigrant survivors of human trafficking are affected by these changes and what practitioners can do to address the potential negative impact HR-1 will have on their clients.

Practice Alert: Protecting Noncitizens From Expedited Removal and Immigration Court Arrests

Beginning in May 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been arresting noncitizens in or around immigration court buildings and subjecting them to expedited removal, following dismissal of their section 240 removal proceedings by ICE counsel. This Practice Alert explains briefly what has been happening and immediate steps practitioners should take to protect their clients and advise pro se respondents.

Practice Pointer: The "Project Homecoming" Proclamation and the CBP Home App's "Self-Deportation" Program

This practice pointer provides information on the White House’s “Project Homecoming” Proclamation and the Department of Homeland Security’s new program for noncitizens who wish to “self-deport.”

Precedent or Policy? A Quiet Transformation of the Board of Immigration Appeals

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is an administrative agency within the Department of Justice (DOJ) which adjudicates appeals of decisions by immigration judges and certain U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) denials. The Board receives 30,000-60,000 appeals each year. In 2024, the BIA adjudicated 44,785 appeals, leaving 138,672 cases pending. Very few of these decisions are “published,” meaning that the decision becomes available to the public and is binding on immigration judges and USCIS. Over the past eight years, the Board issued between 13-27 precedential decisions each year. However, as of Aug. 22, 2025, the Board has already published 34 precedential cases and is on track to set a record for the number of cases published in a single year.

Pro Se Guide for Motion to Change Hearing to WebEx

This guide and template motion can be used by pro se respondents in immigration court to request that the immigration judge change their hearing from in-person to virtual via WebEx. This guide and template do not constitute legal advice.

Seeking Fee Waivers Before EOIR

Practitioners before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) are dealing with competing pressures when deciding whether to seek a fee waiver for a client in removal proceedings. The recently passed congressional legislation dramatically increases fees for post-decision motions and appeals, making such motions and appeals impossible for many noncitizens to afford. For example, the fee for an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is now $1,010 (up from $110), while a motion to reconsider or reopen before the BIA or Immigration Judge (IJ) is now $1,045 (up from $145).   

Southern District of California - Immigration Habeas Filing Checklist

Use this checklist to stay on track when filing and serving in the Southern District of California (S.D. Cal.).

Template Opposition to Motion to Recalendar Proceedings

There are reports that the Department of Homeland Security is moving to recalendar all administratively closed cases pending before the immigration court. Note that recalendaring is not automatic under the regulations and the Immigration Judge is required to consider various factors when determining whether to recalendar proceedings. This template opposition to recalendaring, drafted by CLINIC and AILA, can be adapted by practitioners to fit their client's needs

Three BIA Decisions Severely Limit Bond Eligibility  

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) recently issued three precedential decisions relating to custody redetermination, or “bond,” proceedings before immigration judges (IJs) that limit — or eliminate altogether — bond eligibility for many detained individuals. This article analyzes these three decisions. 

USCIS Issues New NTA Guidance Memo - English and Spanish

This resource provides information for practitioners on a new policy memo issued by USCIS on Feb. 28, 2025, which revives previous Trump administration policies that expanded situations where USCIS was directed to issue Notices to Appear (NTAs) to individuals applying for immigration benefits. It includes a draft informed consent document for individuals who may be subject to NTA issuance.

U.S. Citizen Kids and ICE Check Ins: How to Prepare

This community resource will provide preparedness information for parents or guardian who may be subject to deportation who have a U.S. citizen child or children. The explainer offers options for getting ready for an ICE or ISAP check-in, a template checklist, and information about ICE's own policies.

What's Happening With Immigration Court Arrests and Bonds

This explainer goes over the ICE enforcement tactic of arresting people at their immigration court hearings as well as a recent Board of Immigration Appeals Decision that further restricts who can ask an immigration judge for a bond to get out of detention. That decision is called Matter of Q. Li.