Guidebook on Immigration Impacts in State Courts

The Center For Public Policy Studies (CPPS) has released a detailed, electronic, interactive Practitioners Guidebook to provide practical information and tools to help the state courts determine the impact of immigration on court caseloads, policy, operations, and practice, and develop responses for improving court performance in cases involving both lawful and illegal immigrants.

The Guidebook is designed to be used by court practitioners who want to obtain the knowledge, skills, and tools required to:

• understand the size, composition, and needs of immigrant populations in the court;

• understand the connections between federal, state, and local immigration law, policy, and practice and the implications of these connections on court structure and operations;

• address the multiple aspects of culture that routinely accompany immigration;

• implement long-lasting improvements for better serving immigrants in court;

• monitor court effectiveness in serving immigrants in court; and

• help to build a national courts agenda for improving court and justice system capacity for addressing the impacts of immigration on the state courts.

The contents of the 170 page Guidebook are structured around finding answers to the following four essential questions about immigration issues in the state courts:

• Why should court administrators be concerned about immigration?

• What are the major impacts of federal immigration law, policy, and practice on the state courts?

• How can state court actions impact immigrants in ways that differ from other litigants?

• What types of improvements are state courts making to address immigration concerns?

The electronic format of the Guidebook is highly flexible and user friendly. For example words or phrases included in a topic-based index provide clickable links to specific topical sections. Web links to additional resources are also incorporated throughout the document. Moreover, a glossary of immigration terms and concepts can be accessed by using a “glossary” link at any point in the document. The Guidebook can be downloaded free of charge from the SJI website, or the CPPS website.

This project was funded by an SJI Strategic Initiatives Grant (SJI-10-P-045). SJI has been focused on addressing immigration issues in the state courts since FY 2008.