There are many ways a foreign national can end up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (i.e. ICE) detention. You or your family member may have been arrested for a crime and transferred to ICE custody. ICE agents may have conducted a raid at you or your loved one’s employer. ICE may have come to you or your loved one’s home. You or your loved one was apprehended while attempting to cross the United States border. You or your loved one turned themselves in at the United States border in an attempt to apply for asylum. You or your loved one may have been stopped at the airport after returning from a trip overseas. Regardless of how it happens, being taken into ICE custody is a painful and terrifying experience for you and your family.

You or your loved one may be eligible for release from custody on bond. Bond is essentially insurance that if you or your loved one are released from ICE custody, you or your loved one will appear at future hearings and not simply disappear. The Department of Homeland Security will first determine whether you or your loved one should be released from custody on bond and if so, the amount of bond that must be posted. However, if the Department of Homeland Security determines you should not be released on bond or sets a high bond amount, you ask an immigration judge to reconsider this determination.

The immigration judge will first address whether you or your loved one is eligible for bond as not all foreign nationals are eligible for bond. Once the immigration judge determines you or your loved one is eligible for bond, the immigration judge will then determine whether you or your loved one poses a flight risk or danger to the community. Ultimately, the bond amount is discretionary. To the extent possible, you or your loved one should present evidence to the Immigration Court to show a lack of a criminal record (or any criminal history is not serious), financial stability, strong family and/or community ties, employment, length of residence in the United States, a lack of immigration violations, potential relief from removal, and attendance at past court appearances. The minimum bond amount is $1,500.00, but bond amounts are often several thousand dollars higher.

If you disagree with the immigration judge’s decision regarding your request for bond, you have the right to appeal the decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals (i.e. BIA).