Jorge Rivera | Immigration Attorney

“ICE could be requiring bonds in cases where they previously would have released the person on their own recognizance,” said David Leopold, a prominent immigration lawyer. “That would reflect a greater level of enforcement, not a lesser one. It is also important to remember that most immigrants who have been convicted of crimes are not eligible for bond.”

“The statistics don’t lie. The administration lies,” said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates lower immigration levels. “The administration doesn’t want to increase the number of detainees, and it’s making more money out of bond defaults.”

Other advocates of strict enforcement accuse the Obama administration of expanding the use of bail as another way to continue “lax enforcement” to curry favor with immigrant groups, including Hispanics, in an election year.

U.S. Rep Ted Poe, R-Humble, a long-standing immigration conservative, labeled the spike in bonds “administrative amnesty” and said the increase has pushed illegal immigrants to the streets, “some of which go on to commit further crimes.”