For more information, see American Immigration Lawyers Association (Nonprofit)

The American Immigration Council (AIC) is an advocacy group that promotes left-of-center immigration policies such as increasing immigration to the United States and granting legal status to cases of undocumented immigrants. It was founded by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) in 1987. AIC is AILA’s public policy advocacy affiliate.¹

AIC engages in strategic lawsuits that advance its policy objectives (such as suing the U.S. government to obtain faster hearings for asylum seekers detained after entering the United States without permission²), produces policy documents that promote its agenda (such as a report arguing legal status for undocumented residents would boost U.S. job growth³), and sponsors foreign applicants who wish to come to the U.S. for internships and job training with U.S.-based businesses.⁴

AIC cites and supports the work of the left-of-center Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). This includes praising the objectives of SPLC lawsuits,⁵ defending SPLC from its critics,⁶ and joining with SPLC in litigation.⁷

AIC receives major funding from its parent organization, AILA, and large left-0ffoundations such as the Foundation to Promote Open Society, founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros,⁸ Unbound Philanthropy,⁹ and the Ford Foundation.¹⁰

Background

Formerly known as the American Immigration Law Foundation, American Immigration Council (AIC) is an advocacy group in favor of expanding immigration to the United States and granting legal status to some populations of undocumented immigrants. It was founded by the American Immigration Lawyers Association in 1987.¹ As of 2015, at least 7 of the 30 trustees on the AIC board of directors are also on the AILA board, and AILA provided $72,341 in donated staff assistance to AIC.¹¹

Since 2015, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, AIC, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association have jointly operated the CARA Family Detention Project, an initiative that provides pro-bono legal services to families that have entered the United States without permission and are seeking asylum. “CARA” is an acronym representing the first letter of the names of the four participating organizations.¹²

AILA has been a vocal and consistent critic of the U.S. government policy of using family detention centers. AILA’s denunciations began during the Obama Administration launching the policy in 2014, and continued by the First Trump Administration. Many AILA member lawyers have provided pro-bono legal assistance to the asylum seekers.¹³

Activities and Associations

Policy Analysis and Development

The American Immigration Council (AIC) produces immigration policy reports that promote the benefits of immigrants to the U.S. economy, and of immigration reforms that prioritize easier pathways to legal immigration. Examples include a May 2014 fact sheet explaining the process a refugee must go through to obtain asylum status and under what circumstances the U.S. government must accept refugees,¹⁴ reports for all 50 states detailing the contribution of immigrants to each state’s economy,¹⁵ and a January 2011 report arguing that granting legal status to illegal immigrants would boost U.S. job growth.³

News Analysis

The American Immigration Council (AIC) has a website, ImmigrationImpact.com, publishing regular staff commentaries regarding current immigration news and policy issues. Examples from October 2018 include an analysis arguing the U.S. should grant entry to a so-called “caravan” of an estimated 4,000 mostly Honduran asylum seekers intending to enter the United States without other authorization¹⁶ and a criticism of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsenof the U.S. Department of regarding statements she made to the U.S. Senate about her department’s refugee detention policy.¹⁷

Cultural Exchange

In cooperation with for-profit businesses and non-profit partners, American Immigration Council’s (AIC) cultural exchange program sponsors foreign-national interns and job trainees coming into the United States. AIC also provides U.S. visa application assistance to both the applicants and U.S.-based organizations and businesses seeking to hire them.⁴

Litigation

The American Immigration Council (AIC) has previously filed lawsuits challenging government behavior that conflicts with its immigration policy objectives. Examples include a June 2018 case aimed at forcing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to expedite hearings for asylum seekers being detained after entering the United States without authorization² and an October 2018 case against the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) that seeks to reverse recently imposed restrictions on “specialty occupation” H-1B visas.¹⁸

As of October 2022, the AIC, along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), organized a lawsuit filed by several nonprofit legal service organizations representing detained migrants within the states of Louisiana, Texas, Florida, and Arizona. ¹⁹ The lawsuit, filed against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) argued that attorneys were “severely limited” ¹⁹ in their ability to communicate with their clients due to a lack of private visitation rooms, rigorous scheduling requirements, and limited telephone access while even citing a “$20 rate for a 25-minute call.” within ICE facilities. ¹⁹ Homero López Jr., the legal director for Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy (ISLA) and one of the organizations suing the DHS and ICE, stated “The right to a lawyer should be the minimum level of fairness that someone gets when the government puts them in jail…[h]owever, ICE attempts to remove even that minimal semblance of fairness by constantly placing barriers that limit one’s access to their attorney.” ¹⁹

Association with the Southern Poverty Law Center

The American Immigration Council (AIC) website often cited the work of the controversial far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and has quoted SPLC staff in commentaries, such as those criticizing Donald Trump,²⁰ praising SPLC lawsuits,⁵ and defending SPLC from its critics.⁶

As of October 2015, the AIC was participating in a class action lawsuit with SPLC filed against the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). An SPLC news release regarding the case alleges many forms of “abusive treatment” inflicted on asylum seekers by CBP, including “yelling at, harassing, and assaulting asylum seekers and their children,” and telling Guatemalan asylum seekers that “Guatemalans make us sick.”⁷

Funding

In its 2015 tax documents American Immigration Council (AIC) reported $4,070,277 in revenue, expenses of $3,782,725, and total net assets of $3,039,630.²¹ AIC’s parent organization, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), contributed cash grants of $258,909 toward this total. (Note: AILA also provided AIC with another $72,341 in donated staff assistance for 2015).²²

Other significant sources of 2015 revenue included large foundations with a history of giving to left-of-center advocacy organizations. Examples include $350,000 from the Foundation to Promote Open Society founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, ⁸ Unbound Philanthropy, (giving $233,300),⁹ and the Ford Foundation ($180,000). ¹⁰

Financials

The organization has been tax-exempt since May 1989. According to its 2023 990 form, the American Immigration Council (AIC) reported revenue of $8,289,905, expenses at $12,404,600, and total assets of $15,043,628. ²³

According to its 2022 990 form, the AIC reported a revenue of $16,554,926, expenses at $12,537,657, and total assets of $18,247,799. ²⁴

According to its 2021 990 form, the AIC reported a revenue of $11,573,139, expenses at $7,757,228, and total assets of $13,684,785. ²⁵

1. “Executive Director Benjamin Johnson to Take Helm at the American Immigration Lawyers Association.” American Immigration Lawyer’s Association. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://americanimmigrationcouncil.org/news/executive-director-benjamin-johnson-take-helm-american-immigration-lawyers-association
2. “Challenging Credible Fear Interview and Bond Hearing Delays.” American Immigration Council. Accessed October 23, 2018. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/litigation/challenging-credible-fear-interview-and-bond-hearing-delays
3. “Immigration Reform and Job Growth.” American Immigration Council. January 20, 2011. Accessed October 23, 2018. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/immigration-reform-and-job-growth
4. “Cultural Exchange.” American Immigration Council. Accessed October 23, 2018. http://exchange.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/
5. Johnson, Tory. “Government Sued For Withholding Records on Immigration Raids.” American Immigration Council. August 11, 2016. Accessed October 23, 2018. http://immigrationimpact.com/2016/08/11/immigration-raids-lawsuit/
6. Ewing, Walter. “Restrictionist Group Strikes Back.” American Immigration Council. March 18, 2018. Accessed October 23, 2018. http://immigrationimpact.com/2010/03/18/restrictionist-group-strikes-back/
7. “SPLC lawsuit challenges Trump administration’s turnback policy against asylum seekers.” Southern Poverty Law Center. October 15, 2018. Accessed October 23, 2018. https://www.splcenter.org/news/2018/10/15/splc-lawsuit-challenges-trump-administration%E2%80%99s-turnback-policy-against-asylum-seekers
8. Foundation to Promote Open Society, IRS Form 990, 2015.
9. Unbound Philanthropy, IRS Form 990, 2015.
10. “Grants database: Immigration.” Ford Foundation. Accessed October 23, 2018. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/grants-database/grants-all?search=%26SearchText%3DImmigration&page=0&minyear=2014&maxyear=2016
11. American Immigration Lawyers Association, IRS Form 990, 2015; and American Immigration Council, IRS Form 990, 2015.
12. “Who.” CARA Pro Bono. Accessed October 23, 2018. http://caraprobono.org/partners/
13. “Expanding Family Detention Is Not the Answer to Cruel Family Separation Policy.” American Immigration Lawyers Association. June 20, 2018. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://www.aila.org/advo-media/press-releases/2018/aila-expanding-family-detention-is-not-the-answer
14. “Asylum in the United States.” American Immigration Council. May 14, 2018. Accessed October 23, 2018. https://americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/asylum-united-states
15. “State Fact Sheets.” American Immigration Council. Accessed October 23, 2018. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/topics/state-by-state
16. Cruz, Melissa. “A Caravan of Migrants Makes Its Way to the US, as Trump Threatens to Close the Border.” American Immigration Council. October 18, 2018. Accessed October 23, 2018. http://immigrationimpact.com/2018/10/18/a-caravan-of-migrants-makes-its-way-to-the-us-as-trump-threatens-to-close-the-border/
17. Breisblatt, Joshua. “DHS Secretary Nielsen Makes Laughable Claim That Agency Does Not Detain Children.” American Immigration Council. October 11, 2018. Accessed October 23, 2018. http://immigrationimpact.com/2018/10/11/dhs-secretary-claim-agency-does-not-detain-children/
18. “Challenging USCIS “Not a Specialty Occupation” H-1B Petition Denial.” American Immigration Council. Accessed October 23, 2018. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/litigation/challenging-uscis-not-specialty-occupation-h-1b-petition-denial
19. Larose, Greg. “Lawsuit says ICE ‘severely’ limits attorney access to immigrant detainees.” AZ Mirror, October 19, 2022. https://www.azmirror.com/blog/lawsuit-says-ice-severely-limits-attorney-access-to-immigrant-detainees/
20. Ewing, Walter. “Nativists Line Up in Support of Trump’s Presidential Campaign.” American Immigration Council. March 2, 2016. Accessed October 23, 2018. http://immigrationimpact.com/2016/03/02/donald-trump-nativist/
21. American Immigration Council, IRS Form 990, 2015.
22. American Immigration Lawyers Association, IRS Form 990, 2015.
23. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). American Immigration Council. 2023. Part 1. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/521549711/202413139349302136/full
24. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). American Immigration Council. 2022. Part 1. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/521549711/202343109349303024/full
25. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). American Immigration Council. 2021. Part 1. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/521549711/202242949349301014/full