The U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is among the most controversial agencies in the country these days. Thus, many organisations are working on saving people from pretrial incarceration.
One such initiative is the Bail Bloc, which uses cryptocurrency to get people out of pretrial incarceration. It collects cryptos through charity and uses the money to fund pretrial bails.
What’s U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement?
It’s a law enforcement agency working to prevent illegal immigration mainly by monitoring cross-border activities.
It’s run under the federal government and has been in the news for conducting over 143,470 administrative arrests in 2017. According to reports, about 92% of these arrests resulted in some kind of a criminal conviction with some still pending a charge.
What Is ICE Detention?
Victims are required to pay a special immigration bond to the agency to get their release. However, not everyone gets to enjoy this opportunity as about 53% of the victims don’t get a bond hearing.
The detention can be years long in some cases, and victims have no option but to wait for their court hearing. This can be very excruciating for people, especially those who have the opportunity to pay the bond but no money to do so. It is essential to understand that immigration bond is not legally guaranteed, which translates into only 47% of people in ICE detention getting a bond hearing.
In general, the bail system in the United States, allows for half a million people to be held in custody at local jails without a crime conviction because they can’t afford to post bail. This eventually leads them to plead guilty.
What is The Bail Bloc Initiative?
It raises money through mining to help victims get out of detention. The founders have developed an app that allows users to donate their computer power (10% to 50%) to mine Monero.
All you have to do is install the app and it will start mining. The set percentage is 10%, but users have the option to increase it up to 50%. This allows the organisation to mine currency with the help of users.
The currency is converted into USD at the end of every month and the amount generated is donated to one of “bail funds in the National Bail Fund Network on a rotational basis. Bail Bloc is currently mining Monero for the Immigrant Bail Fund in New Haven, Connecticut, and from November 2017 to November 2018 mined Monero for the Bronx Freedom Fund.”
The initiative has been a success with a total of 12 bails thanks to 44.34 coins mined so far, worth $7,356.36.
In the same area, a similar app can be found called Appolition. it encourages users to donate their “spare change” for those that can’t afford bail.
Why Choose Monero?
According to the founder, they chose Monero as it’s financially viable to mine and does not put a lot of pressure on donors.it is allegedly not as energy-intensive to Mine Monero as it is to mine Bitcoin.
This is not the first time that cryptos or blockchain is being used to help those in need. Companies are working on using blockchain to make donation safer and more accessible. We are sure we’ll see more such occurrences in the future.
