Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM)

Background

The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota was established as Oficina Legal in 1976 as a program of Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS). Federal restrictions on the use of legal aid funds prompted Oficina Legal to incorporate as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 1996, at which point it opened its first office in St. Paul, Minnesota and adopted its current name to reflect growth in the immigrant populations it served. ¹

As of 2026, the organization operated offices in Worthington, Moorhead, and Austin in Minnesota, as well as Fargo, North Dakota. In fiscal year 2023, the ILCM reported handling 3,033 cases across its programs, with clients from 102 countries; the largest groups of clients by country of origin were Mexican with 37 percent, followed by Burmese with 11 percent. ^{1 4}

Activities

Legal Services

The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota provides free immigration legal representation to low-income immigrants and refugees in Minnesota and North Dakota, handling cases regardless of immigration status or case type. Its primary legal programs include the Community Defense Project, which represents clients in immigration detention and asylum proceedings; the Citizenship Project, which assists eligible permanent residents in applying for U.S. citizenship; the New Beginnings Project, which serves immigrant survivors of domestic violence and serious crimes; and the Dreamers Project, which assists recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The ILCM also operates a Pro Bono Project that recruits, trains, and supervises private attorneys to supplement its staff capacity. ²

The ILCM is the administrative home of the Immigration Hub, a statewide coalition of five immigration legal service providers that also includes Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, the Advocates for Human Rights, and the Volunteer Lawyers Network. ⁵

Advocacy

The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota lobbies at local, state, and federal levels on immigration policy. The group backed a 2021 Minnesota law standardizing U visa certifications by local law enforcement for immigrant crime survivors. ⁶

In response to the second Trump administration’s immigration-enforcement operations in the Twin Cities beginning in early 2026, the ILCM rapidly expanded its legal team to handle a surge in detention cases and filed habeas corpus petitions challenging the transfer of detainees to out-of-state facilities. The group’s policy director characterized the situation by saying that during the peak of the enforcement operation, “everything immigration-related was about trying to respond to detentions and transfers out of state.” ^{7 7}

Funding and Affiliated Organizations

In 2017, the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota helped coordinate the Solidarity MN initiative, a multi-foundation partnership to fund micro-grants for immigrant-serving organizations across the state. Founding members of Solidarity MN included the McKnight Foundation, the Bush Foundation, Greater Twin Cities United Way, the Headwaters Foundation for Justice, the Initiative Foundation, the Northwest Area Foundation, the Pohlad Family Foundation, and the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, among others. ⁸

The ILCM also receives funding from the State of Minnesota Refugee Programs Office to support work authorization and employment services for Minnesota residents. ²