On Monday, February 6, 2017, Attorney Modi and Attorney Maha Khalil, another excellent Houston immigration lawyer with The Modi Law Firm, PLLC, participated in the Executive Order Response Training Program (IAH Volunteer Attorney Training) event held at the large law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP. They were featured along with other prominent speakers at the event.

Attorney Modi spoke in-depth on the issue of immigration bonds, which is, for those individuals eligible, a way for people to get out of immigration detention. Determining whether to grant a bond is one of the first things an ICE officer decides when a noncitizen is detained. Some factors that affect the officer’s decision include whether the person in removal proceedings is a flight risk or danger to the community. The ICE officer may not offer a bond amount or it could be higher than the bond amount if any, provided by the judge.

Therefore, often you may highly want a competent Houston immigration attorney to assist you with a Motion for Bond Redetermination to ask the judge to reevaluate the decision to grant a bond and, if so, reevaluate or request a lower bond amount. Note if a bond is granted it does not mean that this individual is no longer in removal proceedings, they are in fact still in removal proceedings. It merely means they’re released after posting the granted bond amount for the duration of the removal proceedings.

Moreover, there are also several criteria that can prevent a judge from granting a bond, including specifically whether that person falls under any grounds for mandatory detention due to their immigration or criminal history.

Attorney Maha Khalil discussed her experience at IAH (Bush Intercontinental Airport) and what to expect following the new executive orders. She has spent many hours at the George Bush Airport volunteering when President Trump’s first executive order regarding the travel band was put into effect.