Immigration officials have decided to do something totally unusual, and that was to release hundreds of detainees. The reason behind all of this is because there is no money to keep them behind bars, thanks to a budget cut from Washington.

This does not mean that they are free and will not be investigated any further, this only means that their cases are still open and everyone will be supervised at all times, just like if they were released on bail.

This measure that caught everyone by surprised, was approved and will be in effect starting Friday February 26, 2013.

Gillian M. Christensen, spokesman for ICE said, "They will continue to be processed in immigration court, when the order is issued, they will be removed from the country."

No one knows exactly how many people will be released or how many have been released so far.

It is only known that there are hundreds of people that were released, according to the information that was issued by immigrant support groups around the United States, especially in states like Texas, New York, Florida and Arizona.

This is the first time in history that this amount of people is released at once. However, they must comply with the guidelines that they were instructed with at the time of their release, such as attending their appointments on time. Not to mention the telephone and electronic monitors that immigration officials will be doing routinely.

For years this is a measure that has been requested by immigration support groups, considering that it is very expensive to keep them in custody. It is estimated that for every person that is detained, the costs runs between $ 122 to $ 164 dollars a day, when this will now only cost from 30 cents to $ 14 a day per person.

Joy.Ruvalcaba@sandiegored.com

Omar.Martinez@sandiegored.com