A decision by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release hundreds of immigrants from its custody who are awaiting deportation proceedings has sparked mixed reactions.
Tucson immigration attorney, Jesse Evans-Schroeder said the majority of her clients who are held in ICE detention facilities in Arizona have either no criminal record, or only minor crimes in their past.
“We are unsure why they were detained in the first place given that ICE has said they are focusing their detention and removal priorities on criminal aliens,” Evans-Schroeder said.
She has four clients who were released over the weekend. She says the reason they had been in detention was a question of resources — each had been granted bond by an immigration judge previously, but couldn't pay it to get out.
“Therefore an immigration judge determined that the person was not a danger or a flight risk and they merited a bond,” Evans-Schroeder said. “But they were unable to pay that bond. So they were languishing in detention at a cost to the government for no real purpose.”