The first thing to understand when considering whether your friend or relative will be eligible for bond is the who the entities who are involved in the decision-making process are, and what interests they have. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is in charge of enforcing the immigration laws. The agency is represented by an attorney who has the job of protecting the government's interests. The Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) is the immigration court system--the judges do not work for DHS, and they are an independent agency under the Department of Justice. The Respondent, who is the alien who is in detention, is the final party. The Respondent can choose to act on his or her own behalf, or through an attorney.
Both sides have their own interests. The government has two major concerns. First, the government wants to make sure that the Respondent isn't a danger to the community. The government is responsible for protecting the people, so if there is some reason to believe that the Respondent is dangerous (because of criminal convictions, or a history of domestic violence, or because of known criminal associates, or for some other reason), the government attorney will argue for a higher bond, or possibly no bond. The government is allowed to present evidence in support of it's position, but the judge does not necessarily have to agree with what the government attorney is asking for. Sometimes in bond hearings it may seem as if the judge is being favorable to the government, by asking directly about any criminal records, but this is done primarily for efficiency, because the government has already gathered that information.
The government's second interest is in ensuring that the Respondent appears for future hearings. It costs the government a lot of money to find aliens and bring them into court, so they do not want to waste those resources by having people disappear once they are out on bail. Some of the things that the government tends to think make a person a flight risk are the absence of strong ties to the community (the person has only been here a few years, and all of his friends and family are also undocumented) and the lack of strong relief (the person is planning to apply for voluntary departure only, and has no other relief available). There are a number of intangible factors that go into the decision about whether someone is a flight risk, like the person's age, and his or her motivation to either remain in the US or return to the home country (someone who has expressed an interest in returning home at the conclusion of the case, but who needs time to wind down a life in the United States by selling property or transitioning children to a new country will be a stronger candidate for bond than someone who has no desire to return to the home country but who is only eligible for voluntary departure).
As the friend of a detained alien, you can help by gathering documents that tend to support the fact that the person is not a danger to the community (letters from people who know the alien, for instance), and to show that there are people who will be there to ensure that the person attends all of his or her future hearing dates. Here in Pennsylvania, the immigration judges like to see a friend or relative in court who can vouch for the person and who will organize the payment of the bond if one is issued. The judges do not generally ask many questions of the friends or family, but a strong presence in court can be very helpful to showing that the alien has ties to the community. If people cannot attend the hearing, letters and affidavits can be substituted.
If the person owns property, or has a business or is steadily employed, proof of that will be helpful to showing the judge that the person is not likely to disappear if a bond is issued. Judges also appreciate evidence that the person has been a law-abiding, tax-paying citizen. If the person has a criminal history (especially something relatively minor, such as a DUI conviction), he or she should be prepared to talk about rehabilitation, including attending classes or otherwise reforming after the event. The person should express genuine remorse, and be accountable for his or her own actions; otherwise, if the person seems insincere or does not admit to making a mistake, the judge may think that he or she does not have the proper respect for the judicial system, and might be inclined not to show up for future hearings.
If you have an immigration attorney, be sure that you are working closely with him or her to prepare for the bond hearing, which often takes place at the first Master Calendar Hearing (although in some courts, bond hearings take place on a separate docket). Once the bond is set, the judge will set the case for a control date, which is a hearing date that he or she expects to cancel once the respondent is released on bond. The control date only exists in case the alien cannot pay the bond; otherwise, the case will be transferred to a different court (if the court is in the prison), or will be set for a hearing date that is not on the detained docket (detainee cases move faster than ordinary removal cases, because of the expense and civil rights issues involved with keeping people locked up for long periods of time).
Remember that immigration bonds must be paid in full--unlike criminal bonds, which are often payable as a percentage of the sum. Because of the high risk of flight for aliens, there are not a lot of options for bail bonds--generally, families must come up with the entire amount of the bond on their own. The bond will be payable in a specific place, by a specific method (usually a money order), so pay close attention to the instructions you receive on where and how to pay the bond. In most cases, even if you pay the bond on the day of the hearing, the alien will not be released until the following day. Typically, the alien is brought to the nearest bus depot so that he or she can find the way home--immigration detention facilities are usually fairly remote, so this might be far away from your friend's home. He or she will be given his belongings back (although DHS does not always return permanent resident cards or passports), and if you would like to leave money for the person you can generally arrange to do so through the prison.
I hope this has been helpful to you!
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