Thread: Fund helps some illegal immigrants post bail

Fund helps some illegal immigrants post bail
Originally published August 21, 2008
By Nicholas C. Stern
News-Post Staff

On June 30, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided Annapolis Painting Services in Anne Arundel County, arresting 46 workers on charges they were in the country illegally.

In response to the arrests, which were aided by eight Frederick County Sheriff's Office deputies trained to enforce federal immigration laws, activists and community members helped some detainees tap into a fund to assist with bail.

Robert Hildreth, a businessman and philanthropist from Boston, founded the National Immigrant Bond Fund in April 2007, after he learned about a worksite raid by ICE agents in New Bedford, Mass. About half of the roughly 400 people detained by ICE agents were quickly shipped to a border town in Texas, he said.

"I didn't think it was right, that they were moved out of the state," Hildreth said, "cutting them off from a chance to see a lawyer, to see their family, community, churches."

Jeanne Butterfield is the executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, a national group of lawyers who practice and teach immigration law.

She said when immigrants are in such a vulnerable position, many will volunteer to leave the country without a clear understanding of the immigration process and the possibility they may be able to stay.

Hildreth's idea was to set up a pool of money to help post bail for immigrants swept up in such raids. Instead of opting for immediate, voluntary deportation, they would be able to have their day in court.

A person wishing to access the fund cannot be arrested for a criminal offense, nor have any outstanding criminal charges. Each must provide half the cost of the bail, except in certain humanitarian cases. And in general, the local community where the raid takes place must have an organization available to coordinate efforts.

Anti-illegal immigration activists have expressed doubts about the motivations behind the fund.

Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, believes the fund is a political effort by activists who oppose enforcing current immigration laws.

"Their intent is to try and get the immigration enforcement system to work as inefficiently as they can," he said.

The fund has distributed almost $190,000 to people arrested in four raids in Maryland, California, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Contributions from communities involved in these cases totaled about $166,000, according to the NIBF website.

The fund has about $250,000 in its coffers, but as the number of ICE raids increase, Hildreth believes $500,000 will be needed. In the meantime, U.S. immigration laws, which have not significantly changed since 1964, are in much need of an overhaul, he said.

Kim Propeack, director of community organizing and political action for CASA de Maryland, the state's largest immigrant advocacy group, said 10 people involved in the Annapolis raid were able to access $40,650 from the fund. Families, church members, employers and others donated the remaining $48,650.

She said CASA's role in this matter was to coordinate donations.

"We saw a tremendous amount of generosity from institutions and personal appeals," Propeack said.

As word of the fund has spread, Propeack said CASA has received calls from families in Frederick seeking access to the fund. So far, no money has flowed to Frederick County because there have been no large-scale worksite raids.

"If there is an ICE raid in the Frederick area, we will be all over it," Hildreth said.
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