Illegal aliens who can’t afford it after they are detained for breaking immigration law do not have to post a bond to be released from federal prison says a federal judge in Seattle.
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik “said that the immigration court’s blanket refusal to consider conditional parole for immigrant detainees potentially impinges on a detainee’s due-process and liberty interests.”
The case arose when a Honduran woman Maria Sandra Rivera, illegally entered the U.S. on May 29, 2014. She was detained and an immigration judge set a bond of $3,500.
Rivera didn’t want to post the money and instead asked to be released on her own recognizance.
She was held for four months and filed this lawsuit in October. She has since been released.
“People should not be locked up while they are in immigration proceedings simply because they do not have money to pay a bond,” said Matt Adams, the legal director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NIRP).
Arguing a bond of just $1,500, which is a minimum Department of Justice policy for noon-flight risk illegals, is an undue burden seems laughable in face of the fact that 90% of unaccompanied minors fail to show up in court.
