National Immigration Litigation Alliance
The National Immigration Litigation Alliance (“NILA”), founded in 2020, protects, preserves, and expands immigrant rights through litigation and litigation skill-building. On the litigation front, NILA litigates impact cases (often national class actions) and transparency lawsuits (under the Freedom of Information Act) and files amicus briefs with the federal courts. In addition, NILA has a co-counseling program in which they partner with attorneys seeking litigation assistance and mentorship in representing their individual clients. With respect to educational programs, they have a membership program in which they offer one year of unlimited strategic assistance to attorneys on their individual cases, as well as access to review of legal pleadings.
THE CASE
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Mansour v. USCIS
Mansour v. USCIS is a nationwide class action in which Temporary Protected Status (TPS) applicants seek to enforce their statutory right to a work permit while they wait for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to adjudicate their TPS applications. TPS is a form of humanitarian relief that provides temporary lawful immigration status to eligible immigrants from war-ravaged or disaster-stricken countries. Federal law requires that USCIS grant eligible TPS applicants interim work authorization while their TPS applications are pending so they can support themselves and their families. Despite this statutory guarantee, USCIS does not issue temporary work permits upon receipt of TPS applications, but instead waits until the applications are ready for full merits adjudications before even considering work authorization. This denial of interim work authorization creates significant hardship to as most TPS applicants who wait for nearly a year, and sometimes longer, before USCIS approves their applications and only then allows them to work.
