The mission of the Immigrant & Non-Citizen Rights Clinic is to provide a platform for the exploration, development, and implementation of ideas and strategies to close the growing legal divide between citizens and non-citizens of the United States of America.

The clinic empowers the rising generation of social justice lawyers to confront the degradation of the rights of citizens and non-citizens alike under the guise of homeland security and public safety and motivated by oppressive and discriminatory forces. The Clinic’s objectives are carried out in our legal representations—where we press for progressive, humane and fair interpretations of the law on behalf of members of the most excluded, marginalized, and criminalized groups—as well as through policy and advocacy projects in partnership with community-based organizations.

The INRC was one of the first immigration law clinics in the nation and has a distinguished record of litigation and advocacy in support of communities and their organizations. It remains separate and apart from other clinics because it explores a multiplicity of facets to non-citizenship advocacy and maintains the belief that rights should not be bestowed or denied based on citizenship or geographic location; the U.S. government is the actor denying rights and using the law to deliberately and swiftly create harsh and unjust consequences such as detention and deportation. The INRC examines the problem historically because while these violations are heightened, they are not new.

Text: CUNY Law: The Border Aspiring lawyers confront the asylum crisis head-on through groundbreaking clinic work. Image: illustration of a detention center before blue skyGo Inside the Clinic

What You’ll Experience in INRC

Hear from four students on their experience representing detained clients, organizing to close a notorious detention center, and collaborating with national partners to shape emerging immigration policy. 

Read the special digital feature

Resources

Resources for Undocumented and Immigrant Students and New Yorkers

INRC works with CUNY’s Office of Undocumented and Immigrant Student Programs and its campuses and partners throughout the city and nationwide to advocate for students and New Yorkers across varying and changing statuses such as, but not limited to, undocumented, DACA, asylum- seeking and granted, Temporary Protective Status (TPS), refugee, and those in mixed-status families.

Watch their presentation on what’s happening at the federal level (recorded 1/16/25)
Contact the INRC Clinic as a student seeking information

NYC Property Access Law (AC § 4-210) Primer

Given the climate of aggressive immigration enforcement, it is critical that vulnerable communities understand their rights when accessing essential city services. The Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic at CUNY School of Law* has created a two-page primer explaining one of New York City’s sanctuary provisions – NYC Administrative Code § 4-210, commonly referred to as “the city property law.” This law generally prohibits federal immigration enforcement from accessing non-public areas of “city property” without a judicial warrant. This resource provides important information detailing the rights of non-citizens in non-public areas of city property, including schools, public benefit centers, shelters, legal service offices, and other locations where individuals receive public services. Significantly, these protections extend to private property where public services are provided under city contract. This primer is currently only available in English (other languages forthcoming). Download the NYC Administrative Code § 4-210 Primer today.

* Many thanks to the INRC students Zoe Kline, Aileen LunaMinistro, Divya Mundackal and Jennifer Rubinshteyn and Professors Jackie Pearce and Talia Peleg for their many contributions to this project.

Navigating Criminal and Immigration Law for Noncitizen Clients

Guide: Will a Criminal Court Case Affect My Immigration Status? Issues to Consider for Immigrant Clients in Criminal Court

INRC and the Immigrant Defense Project have collaborated to create a comprehensive guide for noncitizen clients facing pending charges in criminal courts. This resource, now available in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole (Mandarin forthcoming), provides essential information on the immigration consequences of criminal proceedings, the risk of ICE involvement, and considerations for noncitizens during open criminal cases.

Challenging Gang Allegations Against Immigrant New Yorkers

Online Toolkit 

We launched a web-based Toolkit to help challenge gang allegations against immigrant New Yorkers, particularly those who are subjected to aggressive enforcement efforts on Long Island. The Toolkit is a compilation of resources aimed at preventing and protecting against gang allegations, challenging and defending against gang allegations in immigration proceedings, and documenting the unreliability of gang allegations and aggressive police practices.

The Toolkit contains pro se materials, practice notes, sample documentation, template letters, and various compiled materials that can be used to assist individuals facing gang allegations in proceedings before immigration court, when submitting applications to USCIS, and in schools.

Reports

Swept Up in the Sweep: The Impact of Gang Allegations on Immigrant New Yorkers by INRC and the New York Immigration Coalition

Faculty

  • Nermeen Arastu
    Co-Director, Immigrant & Non-Citizen Rights Clinic and Associate Professor of Law
    Nermeen Arastu is an Associate Professor of Law and the Co-Director of the Immigrant & Non-Citizen Rights Clinic at the CUNY School of Law. She and her students represent non-citizens through all aspects and postures of the immigration system with the express mission of representing those who are most marginalized. Her writing, scholarship, and advocacy focus on racial and religious disparities in our nation’s immigration adjudication and enforcement.  Most recently her writing and scholarship have been published in the UCLA Law Review, Newsweek, City Limits and Slate. Read Nermeen Arastu's full bio.
  • Talia Peleg
    Co-Director, Immigration & Non-Citizen Rights Clinic and Associate Professor of Law
    Professor Talia Peleg and her students represent non-citizens in all areas of the immigration system. Her scholarship and practice focus on combating the entanglement of the immigration and criminal legal systems, which has led to the devastating detention and deportation of hundreds of thousands of non-citizens. Professor Peleg and her students creatively advocate for their clients to be released from the grips of both the immigration and criminal legal systems so that they can live their lives free from governmental control and surveillance. Prior to teaching at CUNY, she was a Supervising Attorney in the Immigration Practice at Brooklyn Defender Services. Professor Peleg is a proud graduate of the Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic and CUNY School of Law. Read Talia Peleg's full bio.
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