Illegal workers get help from fund
Group assists in posting bond for immigrants held in ICE raids
By SUSAN CARROLL Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 7, 2008, 5:31AM
When federal immigration agents raided a Houston rag factory and took 166 suspected illegal immigrants into custody, a Boston philanthropist and multimillionaire was ready to chip in bond money to help the workers.
Robert J. Hildreth, 57, is the public face of the National Immigration Bond Fund, a fledgling organization that helps immigrants swept up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement workplace raids post bonds.
The controversial fund has the backing of major immigrant advocacy groups and religious leaders but has drawn criticism from anti-illegal immigration organizations.
Since spring 2007, the fund has paid more than $180,000 to bond out immigrants snared in ICE raids in California, Massachusetts and Maryland.
Word of the fund is spreading but not quite fast enough for some immigrants caught up in the recent crackdown on businesses that hire illegal immigrants. In the past nine months, ICE has detained about 4,500 undocumented workers and 111 employers, according to ICE statistics.
Hildreth said he and bond fund leadership, which includes leading advocacy organizations such as the National Immigration Forum, decided about four months ago that the organization should broaden its reach across the country. It is now soliciting donations nationally, hoping to raise its profile and political clout to help lobby for immigration reform. So far, it has raised $200,000 for the national fund, but the money is going out as quickly as it comes in, organizers said.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5929129.html
