The National Immigration Litigation Alliance (“NILA”) is a left-of-center immigration-expansionist policy organization that seeks to change immigration policy through impact litigation, ¹ amicus briefs, and Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests for information that it can use to criticize the government’s enforcement of immigration laws. ²

Background

National Immigration Litigation Alliance was founded in 2020 to “protect, preserve, and expand” the ability of immigrants to enter and remain in the United States. ³ The organization states that it strives to protect and expand the rights of illegal migrants through litigation. ²

Finances

In 2023, the National Immigration Litigation Alliance received $284,590 in contributions, ⁴ $53,357 in program service revenue, ⁵ and $342,873 in total revenue. ⁶ The same year, NILA made $308,803 in expenditures ⁷ and held $ 582,611 in net assets. ⁸

Impact Litigation

2020 Litigation

In June of 2020, NILA filed a class action against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) alleging that the agency was slow-walking routine naturalization processes, under the guise of administrative complications from the COVID-19 pandemic, for lawful permanent residents awaiting naturalization. ¹

In October of 2020, NILA challenged the legality of the Trump administration’s USCIS order allowing for expedited removal (a process through which illegal migrants are deported without an administrative hearing before an immigration judge) consistent with authority granted to the president by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act (IRAIRA) of 1996. ⁹ ­­­NILA challenged the regulatory procedures through which the administration changed the implementation of the Act, which by regulation from 1996 to 2017 limited expedited removal to individuals present in the United States for under 14 days and apprehended within 100 miles of a United States land border. ⁹

In November of 2020, NILA challenged the legality of the Trump administration’s USCIS “blank space policy” directing the agency to reject any immigration application or petition that left any section of the document blank. ¹⁰

2022 Litigation

In 2022, NILA challenged the Biden administration’s USCIS, alleging that USCIS did not properly manage its Employment Authorization Document (EAD) clock. The EAD clock is USCIS’s procedure to determine whether an asylum applicant’s application has been pending for over 180 days, thereby making the applicant eligible to lawfully work, in a fair and consistent manner with respect to stopping, starting, and re-starting the EAD clock. ¹¹

Leadership

Trina Realmuto is the executive director of National Immigration Litigation Alliance. Prior to leading the organization, she was the directing attorney for litigation at the left-of-center American Immigration Council. Prior to that role, she was the litigation director for the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild. ¹²

1. “Complaint – Davis v. USCIS.” National Immigration Litigation Alliance. https://immigrationlitigation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/1-Campbell-Davis-v.-USCIS-Complaint-2-20-cv-02770.pdf
2. “Mission.” National Immigration Litigation Alliance. https://immigrationlitigation.org/mission/
3. “2025 Grantee-National Immigration Litigation Alliance.” Barbara McDowell Gerald S. Hartman Foundation. https://www.mcdowellfoundation.org/grantees/national-immigration-litigation-alliance#:~:text=The%20National%20Immigration%20Litigation%20Alliance,in%20representing%20their%20individual%20clients.
4. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). National Immigration Litigation Alliance. Part I, Line 8. 2023.
5. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). National Immigration Litigation Alliance. Part I, Line 9. 2023.
6. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). National Immigration Litigation Alliance. Part I, Line 12. 2023.
7.  Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). National Immigration Litigation Alliance. Part I, Line 18. 2023.
8. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). National Immigration Litigation Alliance. Part I, Line 22. 2023.
9.  “Complaint – Make the Road New York v. McAleenan.” National Immigration Litigation Alliance. https://immigrationlitigation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/55-SECOND-Amended-Complaint.pdf
10. “Complaint – Vangala v. USCIS.” National Immigration Litigation Alliance.  https://immigrationlitigation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Blank-Spaces-Complaint.pdf
11. “Garcia Perez v. USCIS.” National Immigration Litigation Alliance. https://immigrationlitigation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Garcia-Perez-Complaint.pdf
12. “Staff- Trina Realmuto.” National Immigration Litigation Alliance. https://immigrationlitigation.org/our-staff/