Immigrant Legal Defense

What it reported doing in 2025

ILDs Educational-Legal Partnerships in California focus on providing free, high-quality immigration legal services to our states students from kindergarten through higher education. By partnering with school systems, including nine California State University (CSU) campuses, thirty-four California Community College campuses, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), West Contra Costa County Unified School District and partnerships with schools in Sonoma County ILD is able to address the urgent, gaping immigration legal needs of youth, immigrant families, unaccompanied minors and asylum seekers. Through these partnerships, we are building a sustainable and replicable service delivery model that connects our clients with the legal, educational, social and mental health services necessary to enable clients to focus on their studies and to create real and lasting change in their lives. In 2025, ILD continued our CSU Immigration Services Project, our free legal services and education delivery project in collaboration with the CA Department of Social Services (CDSS) and 9 campuses of the CA State University (CSU) system: San Francisco, San Jose, East Bay, Maritime, Stanislaus, Fresno, Bakersfield, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo as well as 34 California Community Colleges (CCC) that are located in the most remote regions of CA. In 2025, ILD attorneys provided 2, 434 individual consultations to students, faculty/staff, and family members. Through our higher educational partnership projects, ILD accepted for full-scope representation 1, 800 new cases for full scope representation in relief that includes DACA, asylum, U visa, T visa, SIJS, VAWA, removal defense, family petitions, adjustment of status petitions based on various grounds, and naturalization. In 2025, ILD conducted over 150 virtual presentations attended by over 10, 000 individuals throughout the CSUs and CCC systems, including large presentations, small campus student group events, faculty/staff, or student government meetings, all held virtually by Zoom, Facebook Live, Instagram Stories, and system-wide webinars; participated in dozens of meetings with campus student-leaders and faculty/staff for in-depth discussions on requested immigration law and policy topics. In 2025, ILD also continued our partnerships with TK-12 unified school districts in Oakland, West Contra Costa County and in Sonoma County. ILD attorneys represent over 1000 families, young adults and children in their court proceedings in seeking asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and U or T visa relief as victims of violent crime or human trafficking. In 2025, ILD attorneys represented 70 detained individuals in their full proceedings, which have in several cases also included habeas petitions relating to prolonged detention and conditions violations and also has included representation before the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. We also represent dozens of Franco class members as National Qualified Representative Program appointed counsel. In 2025, ILD continued our role as mentoring attorneys for 10 fellows in the California Immigrant Justice Fellowship and aims to expand the number of immigration attorneys at Central Valley and Central Coast nonprofits serving immigrants in removal proceedings. We also assist with fellowship program administration and training for all of the fellows. ILD continues to serve as lead attorney for Northern California, the Central and Central Coast for organizations who receive removal defense funding through CDSS. In this role, ILD attorneys serve as the Jurisdictional Capacity Building Organization for all of the CDSS removal defense grantees - we provide intensive mentoring for all attorneys at any organizations that received removal defense funding. In addition to daily one on one office hours, we provide case management assistance, brief and other legal filing review and also conduct training on all immigration court procedural and removal defense substantiv

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 59.3%; rating input score 59
• Program expense ratio: 87.8%; rating input score 88
• Fundraising efficiency: $74.76 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 1st percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Pass
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 97.2%; rating input score 97; 37th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 32.8%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.87; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 17.3%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 30.9% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 33.1% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 33.1% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings