In what’s being hailed as a “landmark settlement,” a federal court has a given the thumbs up to a settlement that forces federal immigration officials and immigration judges in southern California to consider a detained person’s ability to pay when setting bond.
In cases when detained immigrants have not been able to make bond because they have no way to pay it, like in the case of asylum-seeker and plaintiff Cesar Matias, they’ve been detained for years at a time.
“I’m proud to have participated in this lawsuit to help other immigrants,” Matias said in a release from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and affiliate ACLU of Southern California. “I hope no other people will be forced to be detained for years because they cannot afford their bond.”
RELATED STORY: ICE's New York City office forced to stop secretive no-release policy under court settlement
“Previous to this case, the government was not required to consider ability to pay when setting bond for individuals facing deportation,” the civil rights organizations said. “Many immigrants remained incarcerated for months or even years simply because they could not afford the bond.” Black immigrants in particular commonly faced more expensive bonds that make freedom just about impossible.
Matias, who fled Honduras to escape anti-LGBTQ persecution, was jailed in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention for four years because he had no ability to pay his $3,000 bond. It’s well documented that immigration detention is deeply harmful to LBGTQ immigrants. ICE also steadily refused to release HIV-positive immigrant detainees during the pandemic despite its poor health care record.
Under the court agreement, ICE officials and immigration judges in the region must ”consider a detained person's financial circumstances and financial ability to pay a bond,” “not set bond at a greater amount than necessary to ensure the detained person's appearance at all future immigration proceedings,” and “consider whether the detained person may be released on alternative conditions of release,” groups said.
They said the settlement “brings to an end the class-action lawsuit,” which was originally filed more than five years ago. The litigation was supported by a group of former immigration judges and the American Bar Association.
“No one should be locked up because they don’t have the money to buy their freedom,” said ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project Deputy Director Michael Tan. “The settlement will help put the brakes on our out-of-control immigration prison system and provides a model for reform throughout the country.” In another recent court victory against ICE, the mass detention agency’s New York City office has been forced to stop its secretive policy that blocked the release of nearly all immigrants in the region.
“Federal law requires ICE officers to make individualized custody determinations to assess whether a person should be released or detained after being arrested,” the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and the Bronx Defenders said earlier this month. But for a period of more than two years, ICE manipulated this determination process, granting release to just 4% of people. In the years preceding the policy, the rate was nearly 50%.
“ICE’s default detention policy was cruel and unacceptable,” NYCLU Senior Staff Attorney Amy Belsher said. “The policy affected thousands of people, many long-time residents with U.S. family members. Beyond the devastating physical and mental health outcomes, those detained are separated from their families and face immense difficulties defending their right to remain in the United States from behind bars. Everybody is entitled to a fair chance at release.”
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