Entrepreneur Pays $200K for Bail Money for 40 Immigrants
A former high-school history teacher who made a fortune trading Latin American bonds during the 1980s anted up a highly unusual $200,000 to bail 40 strangers out of jail last year.
Bob Hildreth’s generosity, which has just become known, was sparked by a well-publicized immigration raid in the Boston area that resulted in the arrest of 361 people. Most were shipped off to Texas, where immigration judges are particularly tough, reports the Wall Street Journal. So, to give them a chance to fight the charges, Hildreth paid to get them released.
“The raid broke families apart,” he says. “This was extremely un-American.”
However, critics are expected to contend that he is aiding illegal immigration, according to the newspaper. Although there are defenses that can be mounted, once they are out of jail, many of those arrested reportedly were in the country illegally.
When Hildreth called Greater Boston Legal Services and offered his help with immigrants’ bail, “It was almost too good to be true,” says Nancy Kelly, a lawyer with the nonprofit group. The worked out an arrangement under which he contributed if immigrants or their families paid a significant amount of the bail, too.
The $200,000 his generosity wound up costing him, Hildreth admits, is more than he expected. But another surprise was a pleasant one—never having anted up for bail money before, he didn’t realize he was going to get it back once the defendants appear in court for trial or the case is otherwise appropriately resolved within the justice system.
He plans to use the money he gets back to create a fund to help others who need help making bail.
