The lawsuit alleges that ICE withheld $300 million in bail payments from immigrants

MIAMI (AP) — U.S. immigration authorities illegally withheld more than $300 million in debt 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 kept the money for so long that $240 million was transferred to the U.S. Treasury’s unclaimed funds account, Motley Rice LLC, one of the firms that filed the lawsuit in federal court for the Eastern District of New York, said.

The lawsuit, which addresses long-standing complaints, seeks class-action status for those who paid cash to bail out family members detained by ICE. Motley Rice, a firm that represents clients in various class-action lawsuits, said it had been investigating the matter for two years.

Immigration bonds are set and authorized by ICE and immigration judges non-citizens facing removal proceedings be released in the US while their cases are resolved in court. According to the lawsuit, the average bond is $6,000.

Based on information obtained through public records requests and other cases, there are tens of thousands of class members, the lawsuit alleges. “The exact number and identification of class members can be ascertained from government records,” it said.

Once the immigration case is over, the family and friends of the 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,” according to the lawsuit.

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

The case, filed this week, is being filed on behalf of Douglas Cortez of Uniondale, N.Y., who posted $10,000 bond for his friend’s release from custody. In August 2023, the case against his friend was dismissed, but more than a year later, Cortez still hasn’t received any notice or been reimbursed for his bail.

“They took thousands of dollars from hard-working 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 declare that ICE is in breach of its legal obligations under the contract so that this does not 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, didn’t get her money after her uncle wired $5,000 in February 2016. She’s from El Salvador, got legal status in 2021, and now she’s ready to join the lawsuit.

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