How much does freedom
cost? For immigrants detained in the U.S. it can be as low as $1,500 or as high
as $8000 but give what you can or gather with other and give:
The public backlash to a new policy from the Trump
administration that, in effect, separates immigrant parents from their children
at the border has been growing, with criticism from advocates and politicians,
including the four living former first ladies,
who separately condemned it as “cruel” and “immoral.”
President Donald Trump has said his administration will continue
to “arrest people coming into our country illegally” and has called on
Democrats to work with Republicans to pass immigration legislation — including
funding for the $70 billion border wall he proposed — to put an end to the administration’s
“zero-tolerance” policy of separating families. On Tuesday, he said that Democrats want“illegal immigrants to
infest the country.”
Financial support for immigrant families affected by the policy
began to pour in over the past 48 hours. One Bay Area couple created a fund-raising page on Facebook FB, +0.12%
for Raices, a nonprofit organization providing
low-cost legal defense services to immigrant families in Texas, and raised more
than $15 million after setting a goal to raise just $1,500. They have since
increased it to $15 million.
“The challenge of how
to humanely house and process undocumented immigrants, particularly
unaccompanied children and children separated from their parents, is not new,”
said Michael Rosen, president of Philadelphia-based charity consulting firm ML
Innovations, Inc. “Many charity options exist for people who want to help
undocumented immigrant children.”
He suggested finding charities with a proven track record rather
than new organizations, determining what services you want to help provide,
researching the charities before donating, and donating by mail, over the
phone, or through a secure donation site to ensure security. Sites such
as Charity Navigator and Charity Watch help donors vet
charities.
Immigration advocates
have noted one sure-fire way to help people separated from their children:
Posting their bail. This is one of the fastest ways to reunite immigrants with
their family, said Pilar Weiss, project director at the National Bail Fund Network
said.
Donating to community
bond funds can immediately “lead to freedom,” she said. Community bond funds
are charities, like Raices, that use funds to post bail and provide legal
defense for detained people.
Bail can cost anywhere from $1,500 to $80,500
When undocumented
immigrants are detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), they are held in detention until they
go to trial where the court will decide whether they can stay in the country.
In some cases, the
immigration judge will let them go while they await trial if they first pay a
bail bond. Bail is set at a legal minimum of $1,500, but can be much higher.
The bond is meant as a deposit to ensure the accused will report to their
trial. If they attend all of their court appointments, they can get the money
back.
But many people have
trouble coming up with the funds. The average bail bond issued by the San
Francisco immigration courts in 2014 was $3,411 and the average cost of bond in
immigration courts nationally is $6,500. Bond amounts could be as high as
$80,500 on Central District of California immigration bonds, according to a
2015 study by USC law professor Emily Ryo.
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In theory, bonds are
set higher for some immigrants because they are deemed more of a “flight risk,”
or likely to skip their court date, said Trevor Houser, director of the
Immigrant Family Defense Fund, a nonprofit that pays bonds for detained
immigrants.
An immigrant new to
the U.S. may have a higher bond than one who has lived there for many years
with a family and is less likely to leave, he added. However, in practice there
are huge discrepancies in bond amounts across the country largely based on what
individual judges decide, Houser said.
By law, immigration bail is set at a minimum of $1,500. That’s
higher than traditional criminal court bail, which can be as low as $50. A
recent comparison of bail amounts in New York City found that it’s 50% more expensive to
get out of immigration detention than regular jail.
Immigrants who are unable to make bail can spend days, months,
or even years in detention awaiting
their court date. There is no federal limit to how long an
immigrant can be detained without trial. In criminal court, the defendant is
entitled to a trial between 30 and 60 days of being in custody, according to
the law, but the date can be delayed months or even years while they sit in
jail without being convicted.
Under the Trump
administration, very few immigrants are being offered bail initially, Houser
said. Nonprofits that provide free or low-cost legal defense to undocumented
immigrants are working to get their clients court dates where defense attorneys
can request that bond be set. Those same groups then pay the bond so the
defendant can spend the time awaiting trial out of jail with their family.
In one recent case, a
client of the Immigrant Family Defense Fund spent the last year and a half in
detention after he was denied bond, House said. The immigrant came to the U.S.
with his 9-year-old son to flee violence in Guatemala targeting them for their
indigenous identities. By the time he is released from jail in the coming
weeks, his son will be 10.
Being free on bond also helps immigrants in court
A number of community
bond funds have been set up across the country to help those detained by ICE.
Paying bail can make a huge difference in the trajectory of a case: Immigrants
who are bonded out are eight times more likely to win their cases than
unrepresented detainees, according to the Immigrant Family Defense Fund.
“In addition to the
reduced financial and mental-health strain on the family, getting released on
bond substantially increases the odds of winning relief in your immigration
case because you can meet freely and regularly with your attorney and have
greater ability to prepare the documentation you need,” Houser said.
The United States has a uniquely expensive bail system
compared to other developed countries, according to an analysis from
Pricenomics.
The traditional
criminal courts’ bail system, which is different but parallel to the
immigration detention bond system, has been recently criticized by high-profile
advocates. Musician and singer Jay-Z released a documentary in 2017 about
Kalief Browder, a New York boy who jailed in 2010 at the age of 16 after being
charged with stealing a backpack.
Unable to pay the $3,000 in bail, Browder remained in jail on Rikers Island
for three years, including two years in solitary confinement. He
maintained his innocence and the charges were dismissed in 2013. But he took
his own life in 2015 after his release, a death his parents blame on his
treatment in jail.
In California , the state Supreme Court is weighing a proposal that
would allow a judge to consider a defendant’s ability to pay when setting bail
amounts.
Advocates say the
ongoing immigration issue is highlighting the flaws of the cash-bail system in
the U.S. “The sheer number of people who are incarcerated in this country has
reached crisis levels,” Weiss said. “But with immigrant detention and
incarceration due to ICE, there is a new awareness growing around that as
well.”
In addition to paying the bail for detained immigrants, some
organizations are also able to negotiate the cost of bail down or pay for
several bail funds at once. The Eastern Iowa Community Bond Project paid a total of $35,000 to
release 20 of the 32 men arrested in a recent raid.
National organizations funding bail across the U.S.
Local organizations funding bail for immigrants
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