What happens when the immigration judge grants bond in your case?

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When you hear that your friend or relative has been granted a bond in an immigration case, the first thought in your mind is almost always, "FINALLY!"  However long your friend or family member has been in immigration custody, it probably feels like it was too long.  But you may have questions about what the next step is, for both your relative and the case itself.  Here's what happens after the judge sets bond.

First, you'll need to make arrangements to have a US citizen or lawful permanent resident pay the bond in person at the local ICE office.  You will need to pay the bond with a cashier's check or money order, made payable to the Department of Homeland Security (no abbreviation).  ICE offices are usually fairly busy, so be prepared to wait.  If possible, visit the office early in the day; that way, you have the best chance of having ICE communicate with the detention center to ensure that your friend is released sooner.

The detention center typically brings detainees to the nearest bus depot, where they are responsible for making their own way home.  Their personal belongings will be returned, and they should have the opportunity to make a phone call.  Many people opt to have a friend or relative pick them up, since many of the detention facilities are located in remote areas far from home.

Once the person has paid the bond and is released from custody, the attorney for the government will make a motion to change the venue in the case to the court nearest to the person's last known residence.  If you were arrested out of state, and your address is not known to the court, the government attorney may simply have the case transferred to the court with jurisdiction over non-detained cases in the area of the detention center (for instance, in Philadelphia, where I practice, the nearest detention center is in York, Pennsylvania, and that is where detained hearings are held.  A detainee from New York whose address was known would have his case transferred to the immigration court in New York, but if his address was unknown, the case would be sent to the immigration court in Philadelphia.)  You will receive (or your lawyer, if you have one, will receive), a notice from the government indicating that a Motion to Change Venue has been filed.

Once the court grants the motion, you will receive a notice from the immigration court scheduling your next hearing date.  This may be a few weeks away, or a few months away, depending on the court's schedule.  This notice will come with a Change of Address form.  If your address has changed, or if venue has been assigned improperly (you live in New York, but the case was sent to the court in Philadelphia), be sure to submit the change of address form, but make arrangements to appear in court as scheduled.  Remember, failure to appear for a scheduled hearing will result in an order for your removal (deportation) being entered in your absence.  You can contact the court to determine what you need to do to make sure the case is sent to the right court, or, preferably, talk to an immigration attorney who can file the appropriate motions for you.  Any time you're in court, you should really be working with an attorney--if the government has their own attorney, so should you.

At your first hearing in immigration court, the judge will want to know what has happened so far in the case.  In some situations, the judge in the detention center will have taken pleadings, and will have gotten a sense of what the case was about, but in other situations, the first hearing is for bond only, and so pleadings (your responses to the allegations in the Notice to Appear, which was given to you when you were arrested) will still need to be taken at the first hearing.  Either way, your first hearing will be a Master Calendar Hearing, which is typically for case processing/case status information, and scheduling.  Depending on where you are in the case, you may be scheduled for another Master Calendar Hearing (to file documents, for instance), or your case may be set for an Individual Calendar Hearing, where the case will be heard on the merits.

You'll probably find that the pace of hearings outside of the detention facility is slower than inside--instead of hearings being scheduled weeks apart, they are typically set for several months in the future. If you didn't have an attorney at your bond hearing, but you would like time to find one, most judges will accommodate that request at the first hearing.  If you have questions about hiring an attorney, you can find qualified immigration attorneys using the AILA immigration lawyer search , which is organized by the American Immigration Lawyer's Association.  Or, of course, you can contact me at christina@cruddenlegal.com, or by visiting www.cruddenlegal.com.

Don't forget, you can schedule appointments for consultations by phone, video or in person by visiting www.cruddenlegal.appointy.com!