Our Mission

The mission of Advocates for Immigrant Rights (AIR) is to fight for the dignity, safety, and inclusion of immigrants in the United States, especially those most marginalized, through legal representation and advocacy.

 We fight for the rights of immigrants but also for the expansion of those rights to ensure that all people are equally protected by the laws of the United States. AIR seeks to create structural and systemic change by coordinating with other legal service providers and community-based organizations to complement our skills and build our mutual capacity. Our service model inherently provides for relationships that will propel our work and the work of our partners.

Detention Defense

We represent people who have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and are currently being held in ICE facilities and are the only non-profit in Tennessee and Arkansas to provide this type of representation. We work with our clients on the phone, through video appointments, and in person to prepare requests for parole, bond, and, when those options are not available, to represent someone in their immigration case from detention. Most of our clients are detained in Louisiana and Mississippi, though we will consider representing clients who are detained in other places under certain circumstances. These cases tend to be resolved in a shorter amount of time than cases that are not detained.

Removal Defense

For people who are released from detention and/or for people who have their immigration court outside of detention facilities (most of our clients have court in Memphis, TN) we provide representation to defend their rights to stay in the United States. We will work with our clients in person, as well as on the phone or through video appointments, to collect documents, prepare applications, and provide in-person representation in court. Sometimes the applications we file in these cases are not with the court, but with the immigration office (USCIS). Immigration court cases can sometimes take years to resolve and involve multiple applications for relief from removal.

Appeals

For people whose applications have been denied by an Immigration Judge, we can appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and argue that the Immigration Judge’s decision was wrong. This process can last for a few months for people in detention and can last a few years for people who are not detained. We also help people to appeal a BIA decision to the federal court.

Affirmative Applications

Our practice is primarily focused on removal defense and we take limited affirmative cases - where people who do not have court want to apply for some kind of legal status. We file applications for Asylum/Withholding of Removal, U-Visa, family sponsorship, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and other types of applications with the immigration office (USCIS). We also identify and fight other legal issues that immigrant communities face.