RAICES, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization formally known as the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, was created in 1986 to welcome and fight for families seeking safety and freedom in the U.S.
We started as a two-person team in a tiny San Antonio office and kept growing to include Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and Laredo — and to make our services accessible to people in rural communities statewide. Today, with our Texas roots and national reach, we advocate for the rights and prosperity of all our families, neighbors, and community members.
We grew from 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. In a time of exceptional need, our neighbors across the country came together and showed us what it means to be a more welcoming nation.
Originally a grassroots community-based organization known as the Refugee Aid Project, RAICES was accredited by the Department of Justice (DOJ) as a legal services provider in 1993 — centering our advocacy for access to representation as critical to equitable outcomes in immigration court — and expanded further in 2017 to include refugee resettlement services in collaboration with our national partner, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI).
We believe in a country where everyone has access to legal and social services — no matter where you come from. A place where people don’t have to go to court to face a giant institution on their own. A place where people don’t have to navigate a maze of local, state, and federal bureaucracies created to keep them out — because we know that our services keep families together and free.
