Over the past several decades, many laws were passed to make the criminal and immigration legal systems more interconnected. As a result, the federal government, police, and prisons often share information about individuals and work together. This means that any contact with the police system can severely impact an individual’s immigration status. And in a system where immigrants of color are already disproportionately impacted by racist policing, this leads to even harsher consequences like deportation and family separation.
To help immigrants understand the risks of this contact, the Immigrant Justice Network (IJN) partnered with CUP and designer Emily Lin to create Break it Down! The bilingual English and Spanish guide explains the different ways that contact with the criminal legal system can impact your immigration status and how the systems are connected. With this information, immigrants can advocate for their rights when interacting with police and fight back against the unjust laws that impact them.
The Immigrant Justice Network launched Break it Down! at a training on decriminalization for community members in February 2022. The guide will be distributed to IJN’s network of local and regional immigrant rights organizations, criminal justice groups, and allied organizations.