RAICES is initially established as the Refugee Aid Project during the Sanctuary Movement as a response to immigration policies that created impossible legal barriers for Central American refugees to seek protection in the U.S.

Immigration Reform and Control Act grants amnesty to more than 3 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

Sister Jean Durel becomes the inaugural Executive Director at RAICES.

RAICES opens its doors at 1305 North Flores Street in San Antonio, Texas.

Immigration Act is passed and creates pathways for immigration by raising the limit on immigration, introducing the Diversity Lottery to underrepresented countries, and granting Temporary Protected Status to asylum seekers.

RAICES is accredited as a legal services agency by Department of Justice.

U.S. Border Patrol begins “Operation Blockade” on September 19, 1993, deploying hundreds of agents along a 20-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border to stop the flow of immigration to El Paso, Texas, sparking outrage from the local community and those who migrate to the U.S. for work.

Deaths along the border soar as a result of deterrence strategies.

Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA) radically overhauls the U.S. immigration system and subjects more immigrants, including permanent residents, to deportation. The law also requires more immigrants to be detained before deportation — making it harder to access lawyers.

IIRAIRA lays the groundwork for future deterrence policies that impose severe and unfair punishments on immigrant communities.

John Blatz is appointed Executive Director at RAICES

Flores Settlement is the outcome of the 1993 Supreme Court case Reno v. Flores and sets federal standards for the treatment and release of children in detention

RAICES can better advocate for the children we represent through this consent decree

Refugee Aid Project changes its name to Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES).

DREAM (Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act is introduced to provide conditional residency for undocumented youth who entered the country before the age of 16.

Dream Act is introduced in Congress at least 10 more times. Despite overwhelming support from voters, the legislation has not become law.

September 11 attacks on our nation dramatically changes immigration and domestic policies.

Homeland Security Act establishes the Department of Homeland Security as an agency under the Executive Branch.

Department of Homeland Security begins its operations. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is given the power to exercise civil and criminal authority to target, track, and deport immigrants under the guise of “keeping America safe.” Millions of fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, children, and our neighbors have been deported and separated from their families.

2006 Mega Marches, La Gran Marcha, becomes one of the largest civil rights protests in U.S. history

Millions of immigrants and allies take to the streets across the nation to live in the U.S. without fear of deportation and to protest the Sensenbrenner Bill (HR 4437), which would have criminalized undocumented immigrants and their families.

Jonathan Ryan is appointed Executive Director at RAICES.

John Blatz resumes practicing as an attorney at RAICES, his passion.

RAICES expands services and operations to Austin, Texas.

RAICES establishes Unaccompanied Children’s Services, which will expand to encompass over a dozen government shelters in Texas.

RAICES expands services and operations to Corpus Christi, Texas.

DREAM Act fails in the Senate by only five votes after weeks of protests calling for pathways to citizenship for undocumented youth and overwhelming public support.

Undocumented organizers successfully lead campaign to push President Obama to pass Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) as an executive order, providing work permits and a temporary stay of deportation for undocumented youth.

A bipartisan group of eight senators, recognized as the “Gang of Eight,” push for immigration reform and an overhaul of the U.S. immigration process that would have granted nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship.

Bill passes the Senate with a strong majority but ultimately fails in the House of Representatives, dealing a major blow to policymakers and advocates.

RAICES expands services and operations to North Texas, encompassing Dallas and Fort Worth

Asylum-seeking families are detained indefinitely to deter migration to the U.S., violating the Flores Settlement and inflicting irreparable harm on parents and children

President Obama announces Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA), which would grant renewable work permits and temporary stay of deportation to parents of U.S. Citizens or Legal Permanent Residents but is immediately blocked from ever taking into effect

RAICES launches Karnes Pro Bono Project at Karnes Family Detention Center to provide legal services to parents and children

Contentious presidential election heightens anti-immigrant sentiment

Xenophobic rhetoric hurts our immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking community

President Trump signs series of executive orders targeting immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seeking families.

Attorney General Jeff Session ends DACA, launching years-long courtroom battle.

State of Texas ends coordination with Office of Refugee Resettlement in effort to keep refugees from Syria from resettling in Texas.

Protests erupt across the country against cruel and xenophobic policies of the administration.

Trump Administration considers separating children from their parents in an effort to deter migration and secretly begins piloting family separation program.

RAICES expands services and operations to Houston and formalizes its holistic social services case management program.

Family separation under Zero Tolerance becomes the nation’s de facto asylum practice at the U.S.–Mexico border.

Millions of people nationwide take to the streets declaring “Families Belong Together.”

More than half a million supporters on Facebook make history by donating over $20 million to RAICES in just 5 days, enabling payment of bonds in the same amount over the following 5 years.

RAICES serves 278 families separated under Zero Tolerance and launches a national legal referral network for family separation representation in and out of Texas.

RAICES launches litigation practice and files a lawsuit against The GEO Group, a private prison company that runs Karnes County Residential Center.

Department of Homeland Security announces a final rule to end Flores Settlement, moving to detain children in immigration prisons indefinitely.

Trump Administration begins “Remain in Mexico” policy and sends 56,000 asylum seekers to Mexico to wait for their immigration cases to be processed, a major policy shift that overhauls decades-long asylum laws.

Client Financial Assistance program launches in response to heightened housing and food insecurity within the undocumented community from COVID-19, providing families with over $1 million in assistance through 2023.

RAICES launches Get Out The Vote campaign in Texas, Florida, and Arizona to encourage constituents to exercise their voting rights.

RAICES releases Homeland Insecurity, an 8-part serialized podcast on the Department of Homeland Security that asks, How did immigrants become the enemy?

Trump Administration invokes “Title 42” at the onset of COVID-19 shutdowns in an effort to end asylum in the U.S. and to deny those seeking asylum their legal right to seek refuge in our country.

RAICES, along with CAIR Coalition, Human Rights First, and 9 individual asylum seekers, sue Trump Administration over illegal “transit ban” policy, which would have ended asylum in the U.S. — and won.

RAICES formally recognizes its Workers Union.

RAICES launches Rural Legal Services to assist immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers fleeing abusive and dangerous situations.

RAICES expands Unaccompanied Children’s Services to include emergency facilities amidst historic apprehension rates at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Refugee Client Services expands to include up to 370 Afghan humanitarian parolees following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

RAICES pilots mental and behavioral health diagnostic and treatment referral services for our refugee clients.

RAICES represents over 52 families separated for as long as 230 days under Zero Tolerance in settlement negotiations with federal government.

President Biden signs executive order to identify and reunify remaining children separated under the Zero Tolerance policy.

John Blatz, former Executive Director at RAICES, retires after 3 decades of service.

Dolores K. Schroeder is appointed CEO at RAICES.

RAICES resettles 1,000th client under its Refugee Client Services Reception and Placement program.

RAICES, in partnership with firms Hogan Lovells and Lewis Roca, files its first family separation lawsuit against the federal government in Arizona on behalf of 4 families seeking damages for the irreparable harm caused when the government forcibly separated children from their parents.

Texas launches Operation Lone Star, a state program marked by scandal and civil rights violations.

RAICES litigators file an Amicus Brief that includes first-hand accounts from people impacted by “Remain in Mexico” to be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court in Biden v. Texas – and win.

RAICES is among first legal service providers on the scene in San Antonio after 53 asylum seekers, including children and a pregnant woman, were found dead in an overheated trailer.

Title 42 restrictions are lifted and The White House and Department of Homeland Security announced a series of restrictive border enforcement initiatives to eviscerate our asylum process, including the CBP One Mobile App and a “transit ban” that closely mirrors one deemed illegal under the Trump Administration.

Reports expose deaths of children in U.S. custody – including 8-year-old Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez, 3-year-old Jismary Alejandra Barboza González, and Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza.

The White House announces the CHNV Parole Program that allows everyday people in the U.S to sponsor people seeking asylum in Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti.

21 states led by Texas sue the federal government to block CHNV Parole Program.

RAICES, together with Justice Action Center and UCLA’S Center for Immigration Law and Policy, file a motion to intervene on behalf of 7 U.S. citizens in favor of the program.

RAICES opens its new headquarters campus in San Antonio, Texas, and ratifies its first Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Texas Senate Bill 4 (SB 4) signed into law by Gov. Abbott in late December 2023. The anti-immigrant law has remained stuck in extended court battles throughout 2024 and has not permanently been implemented. If the law ever goes into effect, it would give local and state enforcement officials in Texas unchecked power, leading to the detention of anyone they suspect of being in the U.S. without legal status — without due process.

U.S. Senate unveils $118B bill on border security, aid for Ukraine, Israel in February 2024; bill fails in February and May 2024 votes.

Pres. Biden announces new, significant immigration restrictions, barring people from being granted asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border when the number of border encounters hits 2,500 per day. New procedures go into effect June 5, 2024, less than 24 hours following their announcement.

In August 2024, DHS pauses Biden Administration’s CHNV Parole Program. RAICES is amongst those that have vigorously and successfully defended the program in federal court.