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Dear Friends and Allies,

At ILCM, we bring our full legal passion, dedicated attention and highest quality service to our low- income immigrant and refugee clients and their families. That means trying every day to make immigration systems work for all. We live and work by these values, especially in these times, when political rhetoric targets immigrants and political actions threaten their futures and even their lives.

Unmet needs in the immigrant and refugee communities continue to grow, and to meet those needs, a bold vision is required. Citizenship cases that may have taken less than 1 year to complete previously are now taking 1-2 years to process. On the other end of the spectrum, deportation cases that once took a few years to complete now languish for 5-7 years. These delays were compounded because key offices and agencies shut down during the early days of the pandemic and now have too few workers. These delays impact virtually all our clients and our staff and volunteers, who are limited in their ability to take on new cases because they cannot close older cases. Additionally, with population growth in the state being driven by immigrant populations, our partners across the state report there is a significant unmet need for immigration legal services to obtain, maintain, and improve lawful status--the key to unlocking security, opportunity, and prosperity for any immigrant or refugee.

Over the last year as we reflected on impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on immigrants and the immigration system, policy changes and their implications, and where our services are most needed, that vision became clear.

Rooted in our shared values, we have adopted an ILCM strategic plan for 2023-2026. During the planning process, we looked at the kinds of immigrant legal services that are most needed and the geographic areas of greatest need. We considered ways to strengthen our relationships with community partners as we advocate for policy changes that strengthen our democracy. We made plans to build for ILCM's future, a future that includes continued commitment to justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. [LINK: [link removed] ]

The plan includes both objectives and specific action commitments. Those actions include:

- Creating a cadre of lifelong immigrant justice advocates by cultivating a recruiting pipeline and ongoing engagement of racially and linguistically diverse staff and volunteers via a workforce development program
- Increasing our capacity to provide deportation defense, Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ), citizenship, and family-based visa petitions services.
- Increasing service-delivery in Olmsted, Rice, Nobles, and Watonwan Counties and underserved metropolitan counties through focused remote and in-person outreach and representation.
- Increasing naturalization outreach, especially in areas with the largest numbers of low-income lawful permanent residents eligible for naturalization.

You can download and read the entire strategic plan. You are part of our team. Thank you for your continuing input and support. We look forward to working with you as we move ahead to meet the challenges of the next three years. [LINK: [link removed] ]

With gratitude,

Veena Iyer
ILCM Executive Director

P.S. To achieve our bold vision, we will need the support of our ILCM community. Invest in ILCM's future today to kickstart this work! [LINK: [link removed] ]



You're Invited!

September 28, 2023, from 6-8 p.m. at the Landmark Center

You are invited to be part of an inspiring evening that celebrates unity, compassion, and the resilience of our immigrant and refugee communities. Join us at the Voices United: Uplifting and Transforming Communities fundraising gala, hosted by the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM). Together, we will illuminate the journey of immigrants and refugees and amplify their voices to create positive transformations in our communities.

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Not a U.S. citizen? Don't use marijuana

Though Minnesota's new recreational cannabis law went into effect on August 1, immigrants who are not yet U.S. citizens and live in states that decriminalize cannabis still should not partake like other adults who are U.S. citizens.

Using, possessing, growing, and selling marijuana is still illegal under federal law. If you are not a U.S. citizen, do not use, possess, grow, or sell marijuana. Doing so could stop you from getting legal status or U.S. citizenship, result in the loss of your immigration status, or put you at risk of deportation. [LINK: [link removed] ]

Minnesota's new recreational cannabis law will automatically expunge certain low-level cannabis offenses. Records of these offenses may be more difficult to access in the future, but these records might be important for an immigration case. If you're not a U.S. citizen and believe you were charged with or convicted of a marijuana offense, you should obtain copies of your records as soon as possible. Records can be obtained at Minnesota Court Records Online. [LINK: [link removed] ]


Temporary Protected Status Update

On June 21, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published Federal Register notices (FRNs) announcing the rescission of the 2017 and 2018 terminations of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations of El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua effective June 9, 2023, and the extension of those countries' TPS designations. All TPS holders from these countries are required to re-register during their country's re-registration period.

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EL SALVADOR: [link removed]
HONDURAS: [link removed]
NEPAL: [link removed]
NICARAGUA: [link removed]


DHS Announces Family Reunification Parole Processes for Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras

The new processes are for nationals from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras whose family members are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and who have received approval to join their family in the United States. Specifically, nationals of these countries can be considered for parole on a case-by-case basis for a period of up to three years while they wait to apply to become a lawful permanent resident.

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