New Bond Fund Helps NC Immigrants Get Fair Day in Court
SCSJ works with the fund to help low-income immigrant families

Brandon Greeson


February 24, 2010 12:06 pm



DURHAM, NC – A new bond fund is helping immigrants who are arrested post bond and access legal services. The Southern Coalition for Social Justice partnered with the National Immigrant Bond Fund to provide zero interest matching loans to immigrants who cannot afford to pay a full bond. The fund was created from a pool of private donors committed to protecting dignity and due process for immigrants. Since its inception in September, SCSJ has used the fund to help seven families.

Undocumented immigrants do not have the same right to due process and a fair trial afforded U.S. citizens. SCSJ says if immigrants cannot post bond immediately after entering Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, it can dramatically affect their ability to get justice. They say detainees are then accelerated into deportation proceedings, which are difficult to contest because they do not have the right to an attorney if they cannot afford one, face language barriers and lack access to documents they need to build their case since they are in custody.

Unlike bonds in the criminal courts, most families must pay immigration bonds in cash, rather than being able to pay 10% to a bond agency. Failure to post bond immediately can also result in a rapid transfer of detainees to courts outside of the state in which they were arrested.

This was the case with Samuel, who was arrested in Greensboro and rapidly transferred to the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. “Everyone there was like me: we had no money and no resources. They treated us worse than criminals. They treated us like animals,â€