Addressing the Wrong Address

Published: June 27, 2023

Have you ever received immigration documents for non-citizens whom you don’t know? You’re not alone. Many organizations in the US have reported similar experience.

This happens when non-citizens who are released from federal custody at the southern border without a planned address provide erroneous addresses which are mostly legal service providers, refugee resettlement agencies, and other offices of nongovernmental organizations. As a result, these organizations receive immigration documents for non-citizens with whom they have no affiliation with and no means to contact. This leads to confusion, failure to serve important documents, and even result to some non-citizens missing their hearing dates.

Advocates are now working to address this problem, and many service providers have developed protocols to safeguard the rights of affected non-citizens.

You can take action too. Here are a few key steps to follow if your organization receives erroneous address documents:

1. Verify that the non-citizen is not associated with your organization.
2. Archive the documents.
3. Inform the relevant authorities of the erroneous use of your address.

Another helpful step you can take is to submit your organization’s information to AILA and CLINIC. This will allow them to compile a list of affected organizations that can be made available to the public. By doing so, immigration lawyers will be more likely to recognize your organization’s address and take necessary actions to fix the error.

Source: AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association). “Practice Pointer: Fixing Erroneous Addresses.” AILA Practice Pointers and Alerts, 8 Sept. 2021, https://www.aila.org/advo-media/aila-practice-pointers-and-alerts/practice-pointer-fixing-erroneous-addresses?utm_source=Recent%20Postings%20Alert&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RP%20Daily.