Cash is piling up in Kinney County from bonds posted to free migrants arrested under Texas border

Cash is piling up in Kinney County from bonds posted to free migrants arrested under Texas border crackdown

by Jolie McCullough, Texas Tribune


BRACKETTVILLE — One rural Texas county could rake in some serious cash under Gov. Greg Abbott’s “catch-and-jail” border security initiative from the bonds posted to free migrants imprisoned on low-level trespassing charges.

More than $2 million in bond funds are now sitting in a Kinney County bank account, according to the sheriff’s office and a roster of migrant arrestees obtained by The Texas Tribune. Technically, the money still belongs to family members and supporters who handed over cash to get migrants out of state prisons, but county officials have taken steps that make it difficult for some to get that money back.

Those putting up cash for loved ones are being required to sign away their right to recover the money. Local judges are trying to make defendants attend court in person to qualify to get cash back, even if they’ve since been deported. And for money to be returned, the onus has been put on the migrant to pursue it in court.

Defense attorneys and civil rights groups are crying foul, worried the conservative county is creating a new cash flow from migrants’ pockets to its own coffers. The border community’s total annual budget is just shy of $12 million.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/13/texas-border-migrants-cash-bonds/