What is an immigration bond?
An immigration bond issued for delivery of an alien guarantees that the individual will appear for all I.N.S. hearings on time and depart the United States at a specified date. An immigration bond conditioned for maintenance of an alien, guarantees that the person will be financially independent during the time he/she is in the United States.
INS District Directors throughout the country set the custody conditions for aliens detained for Immigration Court proceedings. But these decisions are immediately reviewed and second-guessed by EOIR immigration judges throughout the country in Immigration Court. The Immigration Judges can turn around and release just about any alien where the INS sets a bond, except the most serious criminal aliens. The BIA then can review the rulings of their fellow EOIR employees, the immigration judges. After that, the circuit courts of appeal can review the decisions of the BIA, making a federal case out of the detention bond amount for every single alien detained by the INS. With this system in place, it is no wonder that the INS actually detains so few aliens, compared to the staggering amount of illegal aliens and criminal resident aliens in this country. So while the Immigration Court proceedings go on and on, with all the needless delay that EOIR bureaucrats can muster, aliens released from I
