El Centro de Immigracion was founded in the Fall of 1976 by Spanish-speaking students from the Southwestern United States. The creation of the organization was related to dealing with the mistreatment of undocumented workers in the United States. The chief function of the organization was to monitor the progress of legislative bills (state and U.S.), Federal and Supreme Court decisions, Board of Immigration Appeals (Interim decisions) and Executive decisions. El Centro published a monitoring report which surveyed the latest developments in immigration law. The organization was student run and operated with the aid of small grants from foundations and private sources.