Bail for Immigration Detainees: Eligibility, Costs, and 2025 Limits

An immigration bond is money posted with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to secure a detained noncitizen’s release while their removal case moves through immigration court. It works something like criminal bail: the payment guarantees the person will show up for every hearing, and if they do, the money comes back at the end of the case. Eligibility, though, is nothing like criminal bail. It turns on which statute the government uses to detain you, your immigration history, and your criminal record, and since mid-2025 the rules about who can even ask a judge for a bond have been in open upheaval.

Who Can Get a Bond Hearing

The Immigration and Nationality Act splits detained noncitizens into two basic groups. People held under INA § 236(a) can ask an ICE officer or an immigration judge to set a bond or release them on recognizance. People held under the mandatory detention provisions cannot.¹

Mandatory detention under INA § 236(c) covers noncitizens taken into custody after release from criminal confinement for certain offenses: aggravated felonies, controlled substance offenses, firearms offenses, crimes of moral turpitude meeting specific sentencing thresholds, and terrorism-related charges.² The Laken Riley Act, signed on January 29, 2025, added a new mandatory detention category reaching noncitizens who are inadmissible on certain grounds and have been charged with, arrested for, or convicted of burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, assault of a law enforcement officer, or any crime resulting in death or serious bodily injury.³

A separate carve-out applies to “arriving aliens,” meaning people who present themselves at a port of entry or are detained at sea. By regulation, they have never been eligible for a bond hearing before an immigration judge; their only path to release is ICE’s discretionary parole authority.⁴

The 2025 Shift That Cut Off Bond for Many Interior Arrests

For roughly 29 years, the government treated noncitizens arrested inside the United States under § 236(a), which allows bond. That changed in 2025. The Trump administration adopted the position that anyone who entered without inspection is an “applicant for admission” subject to mandatory detention under INA § 235(b)(2)(A), whether they crossed the border last week or decades ago. In July 2025, Acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons issued a memo directing that undocumented migrants be detained “for the duration of their removal proceedings.”⁵⁶

The Board of Immigration Appeals locked that approach in with three precedential decisions. Matter of Yajure-Hurtado held that immigration judges have no jurisdiction to grant bond to anyone who entered without inspection. Matter of Dobrotvorskii added a new near-mandatory requirement that applicants submit a signed sponsor affidavit. Matter of Akhmedov held that failing to promptly file a change-of-address form with the court is a significant indicator of flight risk justifying bond denial.⁷

Where the Courts Stand

Federal courts have split sharply on whether the government can refuse bond hearings to people arrested in the interior. More than a thousand habeas corpus petitions have been filed since mid-2025 by detainees seeking those hearings.⁸

On the detainees’ side, a December 2025 district court order in Maldonado Bautista v. DHS held that noncitizens detained in the interior are governed by § 236(a) and are entitled to bond consideration. The court vacated both the administration’s interim guidance and Yajure-Hurtado. The Ninth Circuit stayed that order in late March 2026, confining its effect to detainees in the Central District of California.⁹¹⁰ On May 11, 2026, the Sixth Circuit ruled 2-1 in Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft that ICE is unlawfully detaining noncitizens without bond hearings. Judge Eric L. Clay wrote that “seeking admission” under § 1225(b)(2)(A) requires an active, intentional effort to gain lawful entry, which people who entered without inspection and avoided immigration authorities did not do; the panel also found that detention without any opportunity to be heard violates Fifth Amendment due process. Judge Eric E. Murphy dissented, arguing the statute covers all “applicants for admission,” including those present after an illegal entry.¹¹¹² The Seventh Circuit also rejected the argument that all noncitizens who entered without inspection are subject to mandatory detention, becoming the first federal appellate court to say so explicitly.

On the government’s side, the Fifth Circuit ruled in February 2026 in Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi that unadmitted noncitizens present in the United States are subject to mandatory detention under § 1225(b)(2)(A) with no eligibility for a bond hearing.⁸ The Eighth Circuit has taken a similar line. The Second, Sixth, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits have rejected the government’s reading; the Fifth and Eighth have upheld it. That split makes Supreme Court review increasingly likely.¹³

A separate ACLU class action, filed in September 2025 on behalf of people detained in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire, argues that DHS and the Department of Justice are systematically misclassifying interior arrests under § 1225 rather than the bond-eligible § 1226 in violation of due process, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the 1996 statutory framework.¹⁴

How a Bond Hearing Works

For noncitizens who are still eligible, the process begins with ICE’s own custody determination. An officer may set a bond, release the person on recognizance, or hold them with no bond. If ICE refuses release or sets a bond that is too high, the detainee can ask an immigration judge for a hearing, either at a first court appearance or by sending the judge a written letter with their name, alien registration number, and request. A detainee generally gets one bond hearing. Getting a second requires showing a material change in circumstances, such as resolution of a pending criminal case or a grant of relief on the merits.¹⁵¹

The judge decides two things: whether the person is a flight risk, and whether they are a danger to the community. Under Matter of Guerra, the burden sits on the detainee to show they deserve release. Some federal courts have held that the Constitution instead requires the government to prove dangerousness or flight risk by clear and convincing evidence, but that remains contested.¹

Evidence that tends to support release includes family members with legal status, stable employment, property, and community involvement; a signed letter or affidavit from a sponsor willing to provide housing and ensure appearance, which under Matter of Dobrotvorskii is now treated as near-mandatory;⁷ a record of appearing at prior hearings; and pay stubs, tax returns, and other documents showing ability to pay a bond, which the judge is required to consider.¹⁵ Criminal history weighs against release, though judges are not supposed to treat bare arrest records or dismissed charges as proof of guilt.¹

How Much Bond Costs

The statutory minimum for an immigration bond is $1,500, with no ceiling.¹⁶ In practice, judges set bonds well above that floor. As of 2018, the national median bond set by immigration judges was $7,500, a 50 percent increase over five years. Nearly 40 percent of detainees faced bonds of $10,000 or more, and 5 percent were set at $25,000 or higher. Only about one in twenty received a bond under $2,500, and just 1 percent were released on personal recognizance.¹⁷ Freedom for Immigrants, which has posted bonds for detained people nationwide, has reported amounts from $1,500 to $250,000, with a median of $4,250 and an average of $14,500.¹⁸

Amounts also vary sharply by court. Median bonds have ranged from $5,000 to $15,000 depending on the immigration court, driven by local ICE policies, the composition of the detained population, access to counsel, and the individual judge.¹⁷ Through February of fiscal year 2026, immigration judges held 28,951 bond hearings and granted bond in roughly 8,050 cases, a grant rate of about 28 percent.¹⁹

Posting the Bond and Getting It Back

Once an amount is set, the bond can be posted by a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. In limited circumstances the detainee or a nonprofit can post it. The person posting the bond, called the obligor, has to supply identity documents and deposit the full amount. ICE accepts payment through its online CeBONDS system by Fedwire or ACH bank transfer, and in-person payment can be arranged at an ICE field office case by case. Bonds are processed on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. local time; verification usually takes one to two hours, and if everything checks out the detainee is normally released that day.²⁰

ICE recognizes three types of bonds: delivery bonds, by far the most common, requiring the person to appear as directed; voluntary departure bonds, guaranteeing the person will leave the country by a set date; and order of supervision bonds, ensuring compliance with supervision terms.²⁰

People who cannot pay the full cash amount can go through a Treasury-certified surety company, which posts the bond in exchange for a nonrefundable fee, typically a percentage of the total. Immigration bonds are executed on Form I-352.²¹ Some commercial bonding companies have drawn scrutiny for predatory practices, including steep upfront fees, ongoing monthly payments, and mandatory GPS ankle monitoring.¹⁸

A cash bond is refundable with interest once the case ends and the detainee has complied with every hearing and court requirement. ICE sends the obligor a notice of bond cancellation on Form I-391, which the obligor then mails along with the original bond receipt (Form I-305) to the DHS Debt Management Center in Williston, Vermont. Refunds generally take about four weeks after the center receives the paperwork. Miss a check-in or a hearing, and the bond is breached and the government keeps the money. Money paid to a surety company, as opposed to a direct cash bond to ICE, is generally not refundable.²²

Help Paying: Community Bond Funds

Because bonds often exceed what families can raise, a network of community bond funds has grown up to post them. The National Bail Fund Network, coordinated by the Community Justice Exchange, connects more than ninety local and national funds that post bail and immigration bonds.²³ RAICES, a Texas legal services organization, paid roughly $20 million in immigration bonds between June 2018 and December 2024, freeing more than 2,000 people. Those bonds averaged $10,000 and reached as high as $80,000, and as of mid-2026 less than half had been refunded by the Treasury.²⁴ Freedom for Immigrants has raised over $3.6 million to bond out more than 460 people and provides post-release case management, including housing, mental health support, and legal help.¹⁸ Other national funds include the Black Immigrants Bail Fund and the LGBTQ Freedom Fund, alongside regional funds tied to specific detention facilities.

If Bond Is Denied or Unavailable

Bond is not the only path out of detention. ICE can grant parole, releasing a person without a bond, with approval from DHS headquarters. Parole is the only release mechanism for arriving aliens and others barred from bond hearings, and it is particularly relevant for people with medical or mental health vulnerabilities.²⁵

For people released into supervision, ICE runs the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), its primary alternative to detention since 2004. Participants may be placed on GPS ankle monitoring, telephonic check-ins using biometric voiceprints, or the SmartLINK app, which uses facial recognition and GPS. The program costs less than $4.20 per participant per day, compared with about $152 a day for physical detention, and as of late 2024 more than 179,000 people were enrolled.²⁶

When both ICE and an immigration judge refuse release, a detainee who believes they are being held unlawfully can file a habeas corpus petition in federal district court. A federal judge can order a bond hearing, set a bond, or order outright release. Habeas has become the main way to challenge the current administration’s bond policies, with over a thousand petitions filed since mid-2025.¹⁶⁸

1
Vera Institute of Justice. Immigration Bond Hearing Overview
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S.C. § 1226 – Apprehension and Detention of Aliens
3
U.S. Department of Justice. Laken Riley Act Implementation Guidance
4
U.S. Department of Justice. EOIR Policy Manual – Chapter 8.3, Bond Proceedings
5
Texas Tribune. Texas Immigration Policy Changes Under Trump
6
Washington Post. ICE Trump Undocumented Immigrants Bond Hearings
7
CLINIC. Three BIA Decisions Severely Limit Bond Eligibility
8
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi, No. 25-20496
9
ACLU. Maldonado Bautista v. DHS
10
CLINIC. Federal Immigration Case Updates – January 2026
11
Bloomberg Law. Detained Noncitizens Owed Bond Hearings, Sixth Circuit Says
12
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft, Nos. 25-1965/1969/1978/1982
13
Federal Defenders. Sixth Circuit: Detained Noncitizens Entitled to Bond Hearings
14
ACLU. New Class Action Lawsuit Challenges Widespread Denial of Due Process in Immigration Courts
15
ICE. Immigration Bond Guide
16
NILC. Know Your Rights – Bond
17
TRAC. Immigration Bond Amounts
18
Freedom for Immigrants. Previous Work and Campaigns
19
TRAC. EOIR Quick Facts
20
ICE. ICE Detention Management – Bonds
21
eCFR. 8 CFR 103.6 – Surety Bonds
22
Stanford Law School. Recovering Immigration Bond Money
23
Community Justice Exchange. National Bail Fund Network Directory
24
RAICES. RAICES Bond Fund
25
NILC. Rapid Response Update on Bond Eligibility for Undocumented Immigrants
26
ICE. Alternatives to Detention