For this article, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center interviewed defenders from four counties in California. Each with a different model. The models include having a full-time or a part-time in-house immigration specialist; contracting with an outside organization; having an in-house specialist supported by a contract; and having a full-time in-house specialist who also provides deportation defense. The defenders discuss the elements of these models, how they are funded, what the day-to-day work is like, and advice they would give to others starting such a program.

Major economic development projects and infrastructure investment can present both tremendous opportunities and significant threats for communities and residents. Using a community benefits approach, as a local government official you have powerful tools available to ensure that these projects provide the greatest social, economic and environmental benefits while also not harming surrounding neighborhoods. In short, community benefits are assets available through economic development that meet real community needs. Examples include community access to living wage jobs, affordable housing, health and community services and open space.

The attached Model Campus Safe Zones Resolution language was developed for K-12 school districts that are contemplating adopting protections for their immigrant students. We recommend that any resolution contain language to address these critical issues: Limiting the sharing of student and family information with federal immigration Authorities, Restricting immigration agents' access to campuses, Prohibiting campus security from collaborating with federal immigration authorities, Providing resources and information for immigrant students and their families. The model resolution provides sample language for these issues. We encourage you to use this language as a template and to adopt as many pieces to fit the needs of your school district. We also encourage you to add additional points beyond what is in this resolution and to share your creative and innovative ideas with us.

City executive order ensuring city benefits and services are available without regard to immigration status.

One of the paradoxes at the center of the struggle for immigrant rights in the United States is that while immigration law and policy is made at the national level, most of the impacts of those laws occur at the local level. Politicians and bureaucrats in Washington, DC, negotiate and renegotiate a statutory framework that includes some and excludes others, and design and redesign a police apparatus to enforce the framework. Meanwhile, in towns and cities across the country, immigrants and the neighborhoods they are part of experience firsthand the difficult realities of trying to live, work, take care of a family, and participate in community within a set of legal structures that do not always protect their basic rights and freedoms.

Viewing transit-oriented development (TOD) through an equity lens through every step along the process is essential. eTOD elevates and prioritizes community voice whether in efforts to avoid or stop displacement of community residents, local businesses, and culture or to ensure that transit is affordable, reliable and accessible. It supports investments and policies that close the socioeconomic gaps between communities in which the majority of residents are people of color and those that are majority white.

Culver City Police Policy of Responding to ICE Detainer Requests specifically stipulates they city won't honor hold requests or give ICE notification of release dates.

The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act (VTVPA) passed with bipartisan support in 2000. The VTVPA created the U Visa, a nonimmigrant visa for victims of certain crimes who have been, or are likely to be, helpful to law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of a crime. The purpose of this is two-fold. First, it enhances law enforcement's ability to investigate and prosecute crimes. Second, it furthers humanitarian interests by protecting victims of serious crimes.

King County Superior Court Policy on No Courtroom Arrests Based on Immigration Status

Stanta Cruz County Sheriff's Office executive order ending ICE detainer requests follow federal Oregon ruling.