SEATTLE — A federal judge in Seattle says immigration judges in western Washington must consider whether to release detained immigrants without requiring cash bonds.
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik issued the ruling Monday in a case brought by a Honduran woman who was held in custody for five months while she sought political asylum because she couldn’t afford to pay her bond, which was first set at $7,500 and then lowered to $3,500.
Lawyers with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and the American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of Maria Sandra Rivera. They said they wanted to challenge a longstanding practice of local immigration judges to always require a cash bond before releasing detainees — even though federal law allows the detainees to be released on other conditions of supervision.
Activists said the old policy had been in place for 15 years and resulted in poor immigrants being stuck in detention solely because of their poverty.
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