The Issue

What is immigration bond?

Immigrants held in detention centers are forced to navigate complex immigration laws and procedures often without legal representation as it is difficult to obtain counsel while incarcerated. A subset of people detained have the opportunity to be released if they pay a cash bond – similar to bail in criminal court proceedings. If bond is paid, the individual is released from detention while they fight their case. However, many individuals cannot afford to pay the exorbitant bond that they are assigned – the average bond set in California immigration courts in 2020 was $10,000* — and as a results they must remain in detention for months and sometimes years. After the resolution of an individual’s case, the bond money is returned to the payer.

Detention

The cruelty of immigration detention centers are well-documented. Like any prison, they confine individuals to their cells, limit communication and access to the outside world, and provide low-quality health care. Immigrants who are detained commonly experience mental and physical abuse, are sometimes subject to solitary confinement and, what human rights organizations have called, excessive use of restraints, and have organized hunger strikes across the country in an attempt to shed light on the horrible conditions of confinement. Detention has devastating physical and psychological consequences for an individual fighting their immigration case, their partners, their children, and their community. It is common for detained individuals to lose their jobs and homes while in detention, resources on which their families often rely. No one should be locked up because they are an immigrant or because they are poor. No one should be locked up, period. For our clients, freeing them is as simple as paying their bond.

Representation

Unlike defendants in the criminal legal system who are guaranteed legal representation, immigrants in detention may never speak to legal counsel. According to a study conducted by the Northern California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice in 2014, roughly 2 in 3 immigrants detained in Northern California did not receive any legal representation during their proceedings.* This often leads to the guilty plea and deportation of individuals who have hopeful cases. It is much easier to find and secure affordable representation from outside of detention.

Our Intervention

We post immigration bonds for those who cannot afford to pay it on their own, allowing community members locked in ICE detention to return to their families and communities, and increase their ability to defend their case and remain in the US. Bonded out, represented immigrants are eight times more likely to win their cases than unrepresented detainees.* Although cash bond is just one aspect of the cruel US immigration system that criminalizes immigration, separates families, and fractures communities, as a community, we believe we have an obligation to reduce the harm that unjust systems of punishment have on our neighbors until immigrant detention no longer exists.

*Statistics from TRAC Immigration and Northern California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice.