About the Beyond Bond and Legal Defense Fund
This website hosts information about two separate but related entities: The Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN or "Beyond") and the Beyond Bond and Legal Defense Fund (BBLDF). Learn more about each below.
These are our values in all our work:
We honor people's dignity and choices in a system that denies dignity and choice.
We expect messiness, confusion, and discomfort, and we also choose courage and trust.
We judge the system, not people.
We fight for one another as family, because we are.
About the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN)
We are a community network of faith communities, individuals and other activist groups working to reduce the escalating harm of our immigration system in the current political context.
Get help: We provide accompaniment, which can include support in court or at ICE check-ins, legal referrals, fundraising for bond or legal fees, letters of support from the community, rides for families to visit loved ones in detention, and logistical assistance with paperwork or bond payments, and more. We also help with housing, transportation, and other immediate needs of people released on bond who have no other resources in the community.
Get involved: We organize individuals, congregations, and others interested in showing up for each other to provide accompaniment and support as needed. Additionally, we provide opportunities to take action to support systemic change.
We work closely with immigration justice and abolitionist organizations to support those impacted by our racist immigration system. As an accompaniment network, we take action only in response to requests from those in need of support, or their representatives (family, attorneys, etc.) We don’t make promises, but we are good at trying very hard.
About the Beyond Bond Fund
The Beyond Bond & Legal Defense Fund (the Bond Fund) raises money for immigration bonds to free people in ICE prisons in Massachusetts and Rhode Island or those detained elsewhere who are from or returning to MA.. Since 2018, our community has raised over $1.5 million, to bond out hundreds of people, and helped with legal fees for many others. Learn more about the Fund here. The Beyond Bond & Legal Defense Fund is a separate project incubated by the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network.
THE BEYOND BOND & LEGAL DEFENSE FUND IS A SEPARATE PROJECT INCUBATED BY THE BOSTON IMMIGRATION JUSTICE ACCOMPANIMENT NETWORK. BEYOND BOND AND LEGAL DEFENSE FUND, INC. IS A 501(C)(3) AND IS TAX EXEMPT UNDER IRS SECTION 170. EIN 85-0974406