$10,000

the median bond set by California immigration courts in 2020.

Detention

Immigration and Customs Enforcement can detain any non-citizen without legal status and begin removal proceedings against them. Yet the great majority of these people have both the right to a hearing to challenge their removal and the right to have a bond set. Because immigration cases are backlogged and the system is so complex, a detained person who cannot pay the median $10,000 bond may end up spending years behind bars while waiting for their case to conclude.

Immigration detention is jail. In 2014, 599 immigrants were held in the three Northern California county jails that contract with immigration authorities. Detention centers restrict movement, visits, food, recreation, and contact with the outside world; people are confined to cells, made to wear uniforms, and often held alongside people serving criminal sentences. Detention centers sometimes use solitary confinement and, as human rights organizations have described it, excessive restraints and a lack of access to healthcare and exercise. 

2 in 3

immigrants in detention go without legal representation.

Representation

Criminal defendants are guaranteed a lawyer, but immigrants in detention may never get to speak with legal counsel at all. A 2014 study by the Northern California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (NCCIJ) found that roughly 2 in 3 immigrants detained by the San Francisco Immigration Court went through their proceedings without any legal representation. Making sense of the tangled web of immigration laws and procedures from inside detention—with limited access to documents, friends, family, and a phone—is extraordinarily hard. As a result, immigrants who secure bond during their case and find a lawyer are about 8 times more likely to win than those who stay locked up and unrepresented. Once released, people can more easily find counsel to help them navigate the maze of immigration law. Release also gives them the freedom to work on their own cases and to gather the crucial evidence that often determines whether an Immigration Judge grants relief.

50%

of Northern California detainees had lived in the United States for 10 years or longer.

Effects

Even a short stay in detention can jeopardize a person's job, housing, healthcare, or custody of their children. In 2014, more than 50% of detainees in Northern California had lived in the United States for 10 years or more; 77% had family in the United States; and 65% held jobs before entering detention. Detaining and deporting someone simply because they cannot afford bond has devastating consequences for the immigrant's spouse, children, and community, who rely on their earnings—harming their financial, educational, physical, and mental wellbeing.

Further Reading

• Access to Justice for Immigrant Families and Communities | NCCIJ

• How America's Bond System Keeps Immigrants Behind Bars | VICE

*Source: Northern California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, “Access to Justice for Immigrant Families and Communities: Study of Legal Representation of Detained Immigrants in Northern California,” Oct. 2014, and TRACImmigration.