Immigration Bond Fund

CALEB launches new Immigration Bond Fund to aid families separated by ICE detention

We're proud to announce a new initiative through CALEB that looks to intervene directly in support of local families separated by ICE detention. The Immigration Bond Fund is a mechanism to raise money that will be used to post bond for local individuals that have been granted a bond amount by an immigration judge. All the reasons for doing away with the wealth-based detention of cash bail--unequal access to justice, inability to work or act as caregiver, threats to employment, housing, transportation, or necessary medication--are only amplified and extended when dealing with individuals moved to a federal pre-trial detention facility.

Solid community action often comes out of serious social failures and injustices. In Hamilton County, family members are being separated every week; often they're arrested for minor traffic charges like driving on a revoked license even when no probably cause is given for the stop. When undocumented individuals are booked in the jail, ICE is notified and has the ability to place a 48-hour hold that precludes an option to bail out. According to ICE's own website, "If ICE does not assume custody after 48 hours (excluding weekends and holidays), the local law enforcement agency (LEA) is required to release the individual. The LEA may not lawfully hold an individual beyond the 48-hour period." Yet in a number of cases that CALEB's Community Bail Fund has been involved with, Hamilton County Jail staff have refused to release individuals well after the hold has expired and bond has been paid.

Along with Tennessee United, we are working to make sure these examples of unjust detentions are changed at the Hamilton County Sheriff's Dept. For those individuals who do find themselves or their loved ones fighting for their freedom to stay in Chattanooga, we are looking to help. We will be coordinating the establishment of a bond fund committee to oversee applications and approvals, but in the meantime we need to gather the funds that can make action a reality. CALEB's goal is to raise $20,000 for the fund by year's end. You can help us reach this goal by donating HERE, as well as sharing this project among your friends and family. CALEB is a nonprofit organization, so all donations will be tax-deductible.

See our video explaining the need for an Immigration Bond Fund below:

Read more at www.calebcha.org/immigration.