Lawsuit Alleges ICE Withheld $300 Million in Bond Payments to Immigrants

MIAMI — U.S. immigration authorities illegally withheld more than $300 million in bond payments from tens of thousands of low-income immigrant families and U.S. citizens, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement held onto the money for so long that $240 million was transferred to the U.S. Treasury account as unclaimed funds, said Motley Rice LLC, one of the firms that filed the lawsuit in federal court in the Eastern District of New York.

The lawsuit, which addresses longstanding complaints, seeks class-action status for those who paid cash to help family members detained by ICE. Motley Rice, a firm that represents clients in a wide range of class action lawsuits, said it has been investigating the matter for two years.

Immigration bonds are set by ICE and immigration judges and allow non-citizens facing removal proceedings to be released into the United States while their cases are resolved in court. The average bail is $6,000, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that the group has tens of thousands of members, according to information obtained through public records requests and other files. “The exact number and identity of class members can be determined from government records,” the statement said.

Once an immigration case is completed, family members and friends of detainees have the right to get their money back. However, ICE “routinely fails to return these funds, even when all conditions have been met and proceedings have been completed,” the lawsuit states.

ICE declined to comment, saying it does not discuss pending litigation.

The case filed this week is on behalf of Douglas Cortez of Uniondale, New York, who posted $10,000 bail to free his friend from custody. His friend’s lawsuit was dismissed in August 2023, but more than a year later, Cortez still has not received any notice or received a refund of the bail money he posted.

“They took thousands of dollars from hardworking immigrant families who deserve their money back,” said Deepak Gupta, one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit. “We want ICE to fix this system, we want the court to say that ICE is violating its legal contractual obligations so this doesn’t happen to other families in the future.”

Gupta said they arrived at the $300 million figure after carefully reviewing government documents they obtained through FOIA requests and court records.

Ada Salazar, 28, did not receive her money after her uncle paid $5,000 in February 2016. She is from El Salvador, became legal in 2021 and is now ready to join the lawsuit.

“I hope to get the money back, that’s their promise,” Salazar, a mother of a 6-year-old and a food truck owner in North Carolina, told The Associated Press.