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 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.
