Stability and hope
Legal representation
The U.S. legal system can be complicated and overwhelming — our team of experts can help you understand your rights and connect you with the appropriate immigration relief.
CIRA serves the most vulnerable immigrants within our communities. We are unlike any other organization in the Midwest. As a nonprofit law firm, our primary focus is providing free civil immigration legal services for low-income immigrants from Council Bluffs to Scottsbluff.
We specialize in the most complex, time-consuming, and resource-intensive cases, and we have a 93% success rate. You deserve access to high-quality services, regardless of your ability to pay.
Practice areas
Our specialized teams and programs
Our dedicated team, consisting of skilled attorneys and DOJ-accredited representatives, specializes in the most challenging and time-intensive cases to protect and empower the most vulnerable immigrants in Nebraska and southwest Iowa.
We focus on assisting individuals who cannot afford private legal counsel and who often face the daunting realities of deportation. Our services include both family-based and humanitarian relief, delivered through our specialized teams and programs, ensuring that those most in need receive the legal support they deserve.
Access team
Our access team conducts telephone and in-person intake screening for people across Nebraska and southwest Iowa seeking immigration legal representation. The team manages CIRA’s waitlist for legal services and places new clients for consultation with a legal representative.
Asylum team
Our asylum team represents immigrants who have experienced persecution or have a well-founded fear of future persecution in their country of origin based on a protected characteristic, such as race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. The team handles both affirmative and defensive asylum claims.
Family-based team
Our family-based team specializes in reuniting families separated by borders and securing permanent immigration status for individuals in the United States who are at risk of family separation through deportation.
Immigrant-Focused Medical Legal Partnership program
This program provides expedited access to immigration legal representation for patients referred by partner hospitals and clinics. The program collaborates with healthcare providers to address immigration status insecurity as a social determinant of health.
Pro Bono Work
This project aims to expand CIRA’s capacity to offer free legal representation by recruiting and engaging attorneys in targeted pro bono initiatives.
Refugee Legal Services Team
Our refugee legal services team assists refugees resettled in Nebraska and certain other immigrants eligible for benefits through the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The team represents refugees seeking lawful permanent resident status and pursues solutions like Temporary Protected Status, Asylum, Special Immigrant Visas, and more for other ORR-eligible populations.
Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) team
This team specializes in representing youth who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by one or both parents in state and immigration courts.
U/T/VAWA team
This team represents immigrant survivors of severe crimes, including domestic violence, sexual assault, and sex and labor trafficking. They also conduct outreach and education with law enforcement agencies, who are essential partners in this work.
Unaccompanied Children program
This program provides legal representation and social work to unaccompanied children under 18 within six weeks of their release from a detention center at the border or as soon as possible upon their arrival in Nebraska.
Free and confidential
Nebraska Immigration Legal Assistance Hotline (NILAH)
NILAH is a free and confidential screening for immigration assistance. Call 1-855-307-6730 to speak with an access specialist about your immigration options. Our access specialists are bilingual in English and Spanish and have access to interpreters in over 240+ languages through Language Line Solutions.
Please be aware of scams. All of our services are provided for free. We will never ask you to send money in exchange for legal services.
Hours
Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. CST
Press 9 to leave a voicemail during office hours, and we will return your call.
Frequently asked questions
CIRA’s Nebraska Immigration Legal Assistance Hotline (NILAH) provides free, confidential legal screenings and referrals for low-income immigrants and refugees across Nebraska.
NILAH will screen your phone call for possible immigration benefits, and if we are able to identify any forms of immigration relief, we will place your case on our waitlist.
Attorneys and Department of Justice (DOJ) representatives will provide advice and representation on immigration legal matters.
An average NILAH phone call lasts around 20 minutes. NILAH’s bilingual intake paralegals will ask a series of questions. Be sure to be honest and clear with your answers so we can connect you with immigration benefits. our access specialists are bilingual in English and Spanish and have access to interpreters in over 240 languages through Language Line Solutions.
If you have any forms from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), try to have those documents ready when you call. If you have current legal status in the United States, any card or document stating your status is helpful, such as an EAD card (work permit) or an LPR card. If you have entered and left the United States at least once, try to have the dates you entered and left ready to inform our paralegals. Lastly, if you have any criminal history, try to remember the charges and dates, as well as any penalties you received, such as a fine or jail time. This information is also helpful in identifying immigration benefit that you may be eligible to receive.
Safety planning and resources
Rights and Planning Guide
The Rights and Planning Guide was created to help individuals and families who are facing potential detainment or removal/deportation or who have been subjected to discrimination based upon their national origin. The guide is intended to be used as a collective community resource and is not intended to provide legal or other advice or to create an attorney-client relation.
The guide was authored by Immigrant Legal Center attorneys, in collaboration with Nebraska Appleseed, Center for Rural Affairs, Centro Hispano, ACLU of Nebraska, the Multicultural Coalition of Grand Island, Lincoln Commission on Human Rights and Heartland Workers Center. It was funded by Jane Shanahan, in memory of her grandmother and mother, Jesusita and Santos Baros.
To empower immigrants and refugees to live confidently through high-quality legal representation, resettlement, and social work and to create welcoming communities through education and advocacy.
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CIRA is an affiliate of Immigration Law & Justice Network. We are a 501c3 nonprofit. Our EIN number is 74-3195841. The information contained in this website is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any matter.
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