Impact Campaign

In recent years, Maine has welcomed large groups of immigrants with complex legal needs, including Afghan evacuees, vulnerable immigrant youth, and Black and Brown asylum seekers from the U.S.-Mexico border. They are some of the more than 100 million people worldwide who are displaced from their homes.

With guidance from trusted legal advocates like those at ILAP, many have found safety from violence and persecution, kept their families together, and maintained the work authorization they needed to build new lives and strengthen our communities. Former clients are now neighbors, parents, business owners, community leaders, and decision makers creating a brighter future for the state.

ILAP’s model is unique. We center and fight alongside our clients, making a tangible difference in their lives and building an in-depth understanding of how immigration laws and policies impact people. We then use this knowledge and our deep community connections to advocate for local and national solutions.

We invite you to join us as we forge a path forward with our partners in Maine’s immigrant justice movement, toward an immigration system that provides justice and communities that provide welcome.

Read more below or contact Development Director Laura Simocko at lsimocko@ilapmaine.org or 207-699-4407 to learn more about this important campaign. Thank you.

We need your help to: 

  • Increase access to justice and reach hundreds more people each year.

  • Create an immigration system rooted in justice and compassion.

  • Build vibrant, healthy, and resilient communities across the state.

 

New programs and Initiatives

With the campaign commitments we have secured to date, we have:

  • Launched the Asylum Assistance and Legal Orientation Project to find new, creative ways of offering timely, trusted, and reliable immigration help to even more asylum seekers.

  • Created an Immigrant Children’s Project that provides representation to 150-200 vulnerable children and youth across Maine each year.

  • Expanded the Rural Maine Project to deepen access to immigration legal services state-wide, with a focus on survivors of trafficking and labor exploitation.

  • Amplified impact litigation efforts, co-publishing the Lives in Limbo: How the Boston Asylum Office Fails Asylum Seekers report that received national media attention and sparked leading members of Congress to call for a formal review of the office.

  • Implemented a special Mendez Rojas Project that helped more than 150 people take advantage of a rare time-bound filing extension and apply for asylum.

  • Worked alongside local and national partners to respond to the urgent legal needs of Mainers with loved ones in Afghanistan and Afghan evacuees resettled in Maine.

  • Added more staffing in our Portland and Lewiston offices to strengthen our core services and take more cases, including defensive cases in immigration court, and build the internal infrastructure need for stability and sustainability.

Thank you to all the supporters who have made a generous donation or pledge! Achieving justice for immigrants will take all of us and every dollar adds to our collective impact.

“As an immigrant, I appreciate how arduous the process is. Thank you for helping those who are looking to make Maine their home.”
— ILAP Donor

make an impact

Will you join us to create a world where systems are rooted in justice, where everyone belongs and thrives? Your gift, in any amount, will support ILAP now and in the future. Thank you!

 

Stand alongside people like Jocelyne, from Burundi, as their families build their lives in Maine.

 
 

Learn More

ILAP is incorporated by the State of Maine and is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a §501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation and not a private foundation. Our EIN is 22-3260883 (see our 501(c)3 Determination Letter).

We are committed to transparency. Learn more about our fiscal health and in our annual reports. We also respect the privacy of all of our generous donors (see our donor privacy policy).

See how your support: