WHAT’S HAPPENING:
On Wednesday, November 12, Judge Jeffrey Cummings of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois today ordered the Trump administration to release hundreds of people from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers who are believed to have been arrested without warrants or probable cause, in violation of the Castañon Nava federal consent decree.
The judge has set the bond at $1,500 per person, the minimum immigration bond–and more money than many people can cover after a prolonged stay in immigration detention. The case, led by the National Immigrant Justice Center and the ACLU of Illinois, represents a much-needed acknowledgement that the terror and violence unleashed on the streets of Chicagoland by federal agents is illegal and inexcusable.
Currently, the release has been stayed at the 7th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals pending oral arguments, which are expected December 2nd.
While the initial group of people eligible for bond is estimated to be around 615 individuals, attorneys from NIJC and ACLU have estimated that there may be thousands more people who could be affected by this ruling–and who may need bond payments themselves.
We are raising funds to pay those bonds.
WHY MIBF?
We have been paying immigration detention bonds for people detained in or returning to Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky or Wisconsin since 2020. In that time, we’ve built relationships, a community, and expertise around the immigration bond system. We are a small, all-volunteer board of 15 people, and we are dedicated to meeting this moment.
That being said, we are not doing this alone—step by step, we’ve been working with the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), who is one of the litigants on the case; Organized Communities Against Deportation (OCAD), a Chicago-based group of organizers working to end deportations, and the Illinois Coalition of Refugee Rights (ICIRR), a coalition of over 100 partner organizations all across Illinois. Together, we are working to get these individuals free from ICE detention, to reunite families, and to begin healing communities.
We are also lucky to be part of a larger coalition of bail funds—the National Bail Fund Network (NBFN), who has been with us since the very beginning, and represents a deep well of institutional knowledge and solidarity.
WHAT WE NEED RIGHT NOW:
Quite frankly: money, and lots of it. We have been so grateful to see the incredible outpouring of support from the community since the ruling on November 12th, but the truth is, we are raising an unprecedented amount of money for an unprecedented amount of bonds. That means an unprecedented amount of people, returning home.
We’re working with institutional partners to help us meet this moment (and to cover some of the essential administrative costs). But at our core, we are a grassroots, community-powered mutual aid fund. The vast majority of our gifts are under $100 and come from people like you.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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As of right now, 100% of your donation goes to freeing someone from ICE detention. While we do have some minimal administrative costs associated with running the bond fund (a mail box, web hosting services, and our beloved bookkeeper who keeps us on the right side of tax law), we are also an all-volunteer staff.
Because of how quickly this case is moving—and the uncertainty about the number of people who are eligible for release—we can’t currently guarantee that your donation will be going towards freeing the specific people impacted by this litigation. Unfortunately, many people who might have qualified have taken voluntary departure, or been deported. There is also a huge number of people who were arrested without a warrant whose cases are still pending. However, we can guarantee that your money will go towards freeing someone from ICE detention.
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MIBF is a revolving fund, which means that, when someone’s case is wrapped up, the government returns the bond money to us, often with a bit of interest. We can then use that money to bail someone else out—meaning that your donation could free multiple people over time!
We also expect that Castañon Nava plaintiffs will have a faster turnaround time than most other people we work with. Instead of the years that an immigration case usually takes, we think rulings will be made within weeks. If a judge confirms the arrests are illegal, the bonds will be returned to MIBF. As a revolving fund, returned funds will be used to bond out additional people, on a first-come, first-serve basis, independent of financial need or other criteria, for individuals detained in or residents of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, or Kentucky
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If your loved one was detained without a warrant, call the Family Support Hotline to add them to the list of bonds to be paid (1-855-435-7693, and press 2 to speak to an operator).
You do not need to pay an attorney to get a loved one added to the list!
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NIJC, who has been fighting this case since the beginning, has a fantastic explainer on their website. They keep an updated timeline on their website, showing the work done on this case since it was first filed in 2018.
You can also see a fact sheet, covering the recent court decision, here.
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The truth is, MIBF does one thing, and one thing only (we pay bonds!) and we do it pretty well, but we also don’t need a huge team to do it. We aren’t currently looking for volunteers.
However, there are a lot of different ways to get involved in this movement, whether you join a mutual aid society in your neighborhood, sign up to volunteer with one of our partner orgs like OCAD or ICIRR, or attend a community safety training—all of that is in alliance with the work that we do.
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