SJC hears whether deportation order can justify $150,000 bail increase in Commonwealth v. Alvarez

The Supreme Judicial Court heard argument on whether a federal removal (deportation) order may be considered when a superior court increased bail for Corey Alvarez from $500 to $150,000 after an immigration hearing and removal order. Attorneys for Alvarez urged the court to rule that the statutory factors in section 57 are exclusive and that a deportation order—largely outside the defendant’s control—should not justify a higher bail amount.

The question matters because it determines when judges may increase bail based on circumstances outside a defendant’s control and how state and federal custody decisions interact. At issue is whether a judge may rely on a removal order or whether the superior court must confine its inquiry to the enumerated factors in section 57 and the related provision Congress/bench shorthanded as “section 58.”

Brian Kelly, attorney for Corey Alvarez, told the court that the superior court’s increase “was almost entirely based on that particular order, that deportation order.” Kelly argued for a construction that distinguishes volitional from nonvolitional conduct and said he would “only agree with [raising bail for changed circumstances] if it…