DOUBLE your impact to help people seeking asylum on Giving Tuesday!

For Attorneys

Resources for attorneys representing immigrants and asylum seekers.
Curated for NIJC's network of pro bono attorneys.
All resources currently are publicly available with no login required.

Login
 

Legal Resources

Search

Case Type

Shortcuts

Featured Legal Resources

Browse All
 

Urgent and Available Cases

NIJC's network of pro bono attorneys represent asylum seekers, unaccompanied immigrant children, survivors of domestic abuse and low-income individuals applying for naturalization. NIJC screens all cases to ensure individuals are eligible for relief and to prioritize individuals and families who lack the private resources needed to obtain representation elsewhere.

NIJC pro bono attorneys receive training before taking on their first case, and ongoing technical assistance and case support as necessary throughout the life of each case.

Asylum: A Honduran mother seeks asylum, with her son, after suffering gender-based violence.

R. and her son speak Spanish and live in Indiana

Since she was a young girl, R. suffered physical and verbal abuse from various family members. Running from her family, she met the father of her son, who also physically, verbally and sexually abused her. R. fled Honduras for the US after being threatened at gun point. Upon arriving to the U.S. she was placed in the MPP “Remain in Mexico” process where she was forced to remain in Mexico for about one and a half years while waiting for her asylum case to be adjudicated. During this time, she received threatening messages from the father of her child. In March 2021, R. and her son were paroled into the United States after the administration ended the Remain in Mexico policy and timely filed her asylum application. Her son is a derivative on her application for asylum. Their next Master Calendar Hearing is on January 5, 2022.

Asylum: A man from Rwanda seeks protection based on exercising his political opinion in Rwanda.

P. speaks speaks English, but his best language is Kinyarwanda.

P. supported a candidate in the 2017 Rwandan presidential elections that ran against the current president on a platform of free speech. P. worked as a volunteer field director collecting signatures of supporters. After disqualifying and arresting the candidate after it appeared she could win the government police raided the campaign office and arrested P. along with others. Police interrogated P. and beat and threatened him before releasing him. Over the next year, police detained P. several more times, each time beating him and demanding information about the candidate he supported. P. fled  Rwanda to come to the United States with a student visa. P. filed a pro se application for asylum  in 2019 and was referred to the immigration court. 

U Visa: A Mexican mother of four US citizens seeks protection as a survivor of domestic violence and a felonious assualt.

M. speaks Spanish and lives in a suburb of Chicago

M. was the victim of domestic violence and felonious assault by her husband. In January 2019, M.’s husband punched and choked her in front of her daughter. Her husband later grabbed a knife and put it to her stomach and to kill her and hurt her children. M. also obtained an emergency order of protection against her husband following this crime. M. and her children attended therapy in the months following this incident. M. has four young children who are all US citizens and depend on her. M. will require a waiver of inadmissibility. M.’s U visa must be received by USCIS on or before March 7, 2022.

 

"One of my earliest memories is watching my dad’s naturalization ceremony as a young child in a blazer and tie, feeling proud but not quite understanding why. Many years later, the most emotional experience of my federal clerkship was watching my judge swear in over 100 newly-minted citizens, all beaming with pride. To me, supporting immigrants is an act of patriotism—one that upholds the best traditions and attributes of our nation. My personal experience with the immigration system is why I feel so proud to support the NIJC in its critical work on behalf of immigrants pursuing their own American dreams."
Rami Fakhouri, Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum LLP
 

Pro Bono Spotlight

Thanks to the support of more than 2,000 pro bono attorneys from the nation's leading law firms, NIJC has made critical advances in the lives of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. NIJC provides legal services to more than 9,000 individuals each year and maintains a success rate of 90 percent in obtaining asylum for those fleeing persecution in their home countries.

 

Events

NIJC offers a wide range of immigration law trainings and other opportunities for attorneys to engage with the organization's mission. An attorney taking a case for the first time must attend one of NIJC's quarterly trainings.

 

Federal Litigation

NIJC and its pro bono attorneys are on the vanguard of federal impact litigation and advocacy, setting positive precedents for people seeking human rights protections within the United States and defending against the administration's efforts to undermine access to due process.