OUR HISTORY

ILAP is founded by Beth Stickney, who supervises pro bono attorneys representing around 20 asylum seekers each year.

Peter Darvin leads the volunteer steering committee and Volunteer Lawyers Project serves as ILAP’s intake administrator.

Legal Service Corporation prohibits its funded agencies from serving most non-citizens, so the Volunteer Lawyers Project is no longer able to serve as ILAP’s intake administrator.

Demand for immigration services continues to rise and ILAP is overwhelmed with requests for assistance as an all-volunteer organization.

ILAP becomes a 501(c)(3) organization and a Department of Justice Recognized Organization with Beth Stickney as Executive Director.

ILAP opens its first office on India Street in Portland and hires Sue Roche as its first staff attorney.

ILAP provides direct legal services and outreach for immigrant community members and service providers on immigration options for survivors of domestic violence and other serious crimes, a priority that remains today.

ILAP conducts outreach to migrant farm workers during the annual blueberry and broccoli harvests with Pine Tree Legal Assistance and Maine Migrant Health.

ILAP begins holding regular office hours at Lewiston Adult Education.

Early case wins include grants of citizenship, permanent residency (a “green card”), asylum, work authorization, Temporary Protect Status, family reunification, and termination of removal (deportation).

After the introduction of harsh immigration policies following September 11, requests for immigration legal assistance increase by more than 50% and a tremendous response from supporters allows ILAP to grow to meet more of the demand.

ILAP disseminates information via its website at www.ilapmaine.org, which receives nearly 22,000 visits.

ILAP begins to intentionally address issues that impact high numbers of immigrants in Maine through systemic advocacy through its “Impact Project.”

In collaboration with the Center for Prevention of Hate Violence and Maine Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, ILAP launches the “Preserving the American Dream” Project to respond to high levels of surveillance and bias against Maine’s Muslim and Arab communities.

ILAP conducts know-your-rights workshops and outreach in response to a major immigration enforcement operation targeting Maine’s Latine and Somali communities.

In response to fear in the immigrant community, ILAP works with the State of Maine and City of Portland to implement policies to limit unnecessary immigration status inquiries.

The Campaign for Justice is established as a collaborative fundraising effort for members of the Maine Bar to support the state's civil legal aid providers.

First issue of the Immigrant Beacon, ILAP's twice-yearly newsletter, is released.

ILAP moves to a much larger office space at 309 Cumberland Avenue in Portland.

Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition (MIRC) is established by immigrant community leaders, ILAP, and Maine People's Resource Center with 20 members. MIRC has since grown into a powerful immigrant-led organization with 100+ members dedicated to the advancement of legal, social, and economic outcomes for immigrants in the state of Maine.

Mano en Mano joins outreach efforts to migrant farm workers during the annual blueberry and broccoli harvests.

First CeleSoirée, a fundraising event celebrating immigration through the arts, is held at Portland Yacht Services and raises $8,000.

ILAP begins to see a dramatic increase in immigration enforcement in Maine, causing anxiety in many immigrant communities.

ILAP successfully advocates for a state law making the unauthorized practice of immigration law illegal in Maine.

ILAP receives the Annual Peace Maker Award by Peace Action Maine.

ILAP launches the Detention Project and begins conducting group legal rights orientations at Cumberland County Jail.

ILAP experiences a 450% increase in the number of asylum seekers needing legal assistance and struggles to meet demand.

ILAP successfully advocates for the passage of a state law creating criminal penalties for human traffickers and civil remedies for survivors of human trafficking, including immigrants.

ILAP receives Preble Street's Community Partner Award.

ILAP joins Facebook!

ILAP institutes monthly group orientations on some common topics, including naturalization and information for newly arrived refugees.

In response to numerous reports of racial profiling, especially from Latine clients, ILAP successfully advocates for the passage of a bill to begin to address bias-based profiling by law enforcement in Maine and is named to the resulting Advisory Committee.

ILAP presents at the first Access to Justice Day in Augusta, an annual day of action in support of civil legal aid in Maine.

ILAP joins Twitter!

ILAP’s Pro Bono Panel grows to 70 members dedicating more than 5,000 hours of their time, and dozens of volunteers who donate more than 2,000 hours of their energy and expertise.

The first of three ILAP'd a 5k Road Races brings out runners to raise funds and awareness for ILAP.

ILAP hires its first staff attorney focused on asylum and managing the Pro Bono Panel.

ILAP creates the India Street Society, a giving society for community members who provide crucial financial leadership in helping ILAP accomplish its mission.

ILAP partners with Coffee by Design for Beans of Peace 2011, the sale of which benefits ILAP.

ILAP expands services for immigrant children and youth, taking on more Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) cases and helping eligible Mainers apply for the new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program .

Membership in ILAP's Pro Bono Panel surpasses 100 attorneys donating more than $850,000 of their time each year.

ILAP receives a Certificate of Appreciation from the Burundi Community Association of Maine.

ILAP and the Refugee & Human Rights Clinic at the University of Maine School of Law publish the first edition of a pro se manual for people applying for asylum without an attorney and, in subsequent years, offer monthly workshops and create an accompanying video series.

ILAP celebrates more than 70 Maine residents becoming U.S. citizens at Ocean Gateway in Portland for Citizenship Day.

ILAP staff traveled to Washington D.C. with the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s New England Chapter for the annual National Day of Action.

Due in part to advocacy by the Asylum Seekers Working Group, which ILAP is a member, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services open a Boston Asylum Office with jurisdiction over Maine cases.

ILAP begins to see an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors seeking immigration legal assistance.

ILAP celebrates Andi Summer becoming a fully accredited representative approved by the Department of Justice to represent clients before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which includes the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).

ILAP participates in #GivingTuesday for the first time.

ILAP joins with MIRC and Maine Equal Justice to defend access to emergency and safety net benefit eligibility at the state and local levels for asylum seekers and other immigrants.

ILAP launches the Washington & Hancock Country Project, which has since grown into the Rural Maine Project and reaches immigrant communities in all 16 Maine counties.

One Light, Many Candles event is held at Congregation Bet Ha'am in ILAP's honor, featuring a performance by Noel Paul and Rev. Betty Stookey.

ILAP receives the Holocaust and Human Right Center of Maine's Gerda Haas Award.

ILAP hires its first advocacy-focused position to expand advocacy and outreach efforts in response to anti-immigrant federal policies, including travel bans targeting people from some Muslim-majority countries, increased racial profiling and immigration enforcement, attacks on immigrant families, slashed refugee admissions, and inhumane border policies.

ILAP launches the Emma Lazarus Society to encourage legacy giving and make a lasting impact on social justice in Maine.

The first issue of the “Golden Door,” ILAP’s monthly e-newsletter goes out.

ILAP moves to its current offices at 489 Congress Street in Portland.

ILAP opens a full-time office in Lewiston.

ILAP partners with MIRC and Maine Equal Justice to lead a state-wide advocacy campaign against proposed public charge rule changes that would have harmed immigrants with low incomes, collecting hundreds of comments in opposition.

ILAP successfully advocates for a bill adding labor trafficking to Maine’s criminal code, which makes it easier for trafficking survivors to seek humanitarian relief.

ILAP joins with MIRC and other partner organizations to welcome hundreds of asylum seekers who arrive in Portland from the southern border in summer 2019 and, thanks to an outpouring of community support, expands its services to include more outreach and resources for people applying for asylum without a lawyer.

ILAP successfully advocates to fix a discrepancy between Maine and federal law and opens a pathway to life-changing legal status for more immigrant children who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned.

ILAP's 15th annual CeleSoirée raises nearly $75,000!

ILAP launches the Advocates for Justice society to promote monthly giving and recognize its dedicated sustainers.

Maine had the greatest racial disparity in COVID-19 cases in the country and, in response to pandemic restrictions, ILAP offers virtual direct legal services and outreach, creates an online intake system, and makes more pro se resources available on its website.

ILAP stands with Black communities in demanding justice during the racial justice uprising in summer 2020 and recommits to centering anti-racism in all aspects of its work and across the organization.

ILAP launches the Immigrant Children's Project to increase legal representation for immigrant children and youth across Maine.

ILAP and ACLU of Maine file a lawsuit against Immigration & Customs Enforcement for information about its detention and detainee transfer activities in Maine, including their plans to open a new detention facility in Scarborough.

ILAP implements two emergency projects to respond to unexpected legal needs in Maine’s immigrant communities – the Mendez Rojas Project to help more than 150 people apply for asylum under a rare filing extension and the Afghanistan Project to help Mainers with loved ones in Afghanistan and Afghan evacuees resettled in Maine.

Maine Law’s Refugee & Human Rights Clinic, ACLU of Maine, ILAP and Dr. Basileus Zeno co-publish the Lives in Limbo report, which uncovers bias and due process violations at the Boston Asylum Office and sparks leading members of Congress to call for a formal review of the office.

ILAP pilots the Asylum Assistance & Legal Orientation Project (AALOP) to find new, creative ways to increase the number of asylum seekers in Maine who have access to timely and reliable immigration help and reaches more than 1,500 people in its first year.

ILAP expands the Rural Maine Project to meet more of the need for immigration legal services across the state and deepen its focus on reaching more survivors of labor trafficking or exploitation.

ILAP celebrates 30 years!