A new initiative called the National Immigrant Bond Fund has been created to collect donations and work with community groups to help men and women detained in ICE raids pay bond so they can pursue their case outside of jail.

Immigrants who are detained while they are fighting deportation encounter a number of obstacles as they try to prepare a legal case and collect the evidence they need to have a fair shot in court. Even those who find good lawyers may suddenly be cut off from contact due to broken telephones or sudden transfers to another detention facility hundreds of miles away.

Immigrants who receive bond, on the other hand, can help collect important evidence and documentation that may be essential for their cases but would be impossible to obtain from inside a jail cell.

Being able to pay bond can have a major impact on whether or not an immigrant receives a fair hearing.

Unfortunately, many detainees who are awarded bond cannot afford to pay it. The minimum bond under immigration law is $1,500 and may be set much higher - impossible sums for detainees who cannot earn an income and families who have lost their primary breadwinner.

Here is how the National Immigrant Bond Fund says it will help:

The National Immigrant Bond Fund works with local organizations who are representing or assisting people arrested in immigration raids.  These local organizations can ask the National Immigrant Bond Fund to pay half of the bond if they have helped the detainee raise the other half of the bond from family and friends.  The National Immigrant Bond Fund cannot help every person, however, since it does not have enough money.    

The fund's stated goals are:

• Create a fund to assist immigrants, swept up in ICE enforcement actions and not charged with criminal convictions, to post bond so that they can assert their right to legal counsel and due process in court.

• Provide a matching fund program that ensures that immigrants have a stake in the outcome and adhere to the terms of the bond. By making a "pledge of money", individuals have an incentive to pay back the bond on completion of their legal process so that the funds are then returned to the program to help other immigrants caught in other raids.

• Build public opposition against immigration raids and support for immigration reform by focusing on the lack of rights afforded detainees.

• Support local communities efforts to respond effectively to ICE enforcement actions and raise public awareness of the need for detained immigrants to access due process.

Visit the National Immigrant Bond Fund website to read more about how it will work and how to donate.