Understanding the IRLI
The IRLI (Immigration Reform Law Institute) was founded by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) to act as their legal arm and to work on cases that deal with the laws and regulation related to the current policies on illegal immigration in this country – particularly the cases that involves U.S. citizens that are impacted by these policies.
IRLI stated that they have of goal of “working exclusively to protect the legal rights, privileges, and property of U.S. citizens and their communities from injuries and damages caused by unlawful immigration.” They have taken the stance that illegal immigration at its current level is harmful to citizens, and they focus their legal and litigation activities on help private citizens, business, or organizations that have been harmed by illegal immigration.
Both organizations – the Federation for American Immigration Reform and the IRLI – have stated that they believe that uncontrolled immigration will cause serious harm to the country. That is why the IRLI focuses its efforts on the organizations and companies that have allegedly been ignoring these regulations and encouraging further immigration.
There are many types of cases the IRLI will work with, for both citizens and businesses. They will offer consultations for people who feel they have been discriminated against in the workplace due to company polices about illegal immigrants or for expressing their feelings about those policies. However, due to limited resources, the IRLI only gets involved with a small percentage of cases when help is requested, but they have a long history of working on litigation in these areas.
In the business world, IRLI focuses on representing or consulting with companies that claim to be suffering because of unfair business practices. When one company hires illegal immigrants, they will likely have an unfair advantage over the competition because they could conceivably lower their costs by a drastic amount. This can result in lost revenue, contracts, and profits for the companies that restrict themselves to hiring only U.S. citizens.
According to the IRLI and the Federation for American Immigration Reform there are many problems associated with illegal immigration. For example, they say that working conditions and wages for citizens have steadily gone down because employers discriminate in favor of illegal immigrant labor. They also point to the businesses that suffer because of the unfair practices mentioned above.
The possibilities for litigation don’t stop there, though. The IRLI also cites problems like illegal immigrants in schools that demand or require special treatment which takes up resources and hurts the experience of other students. They have also participated in litigation against landlords that have created difficult living conditions by filling their properties with illegal residents. The IRLI has even pointed to environmental stresses that result from so many influxes in the immigrant population.
The IRLI continues to serve as the legal affiliate of the Federation for American Immigration Reform at the state and local levels to challenge the laws it views as soft on illegal immigration, and the organizations or companies that try to get around the laws that are already in place.
Johanna is a researcher and activist who focuses on highly publicized national government issues. She has been following the Federation for American Immigration Reform for the purpose of this article, and she suggests that if you would like to find out more about the Federation for American Immigration Reform you can go to their website at FairUs.com.
