President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order Monday aimed at ending cashless bail by threatening to withhold federal funding from jurisdictions that continue the practice, The Post has learned.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is preparing to provide the president with a list of jurisdictions that could be affected, including states such as New York, cities like Washington, D.C., and other localities with lenient bail policies.
“Cashless bail policies allow dangerous individuals to immediately return to the streets and further endanger law-abiding, hard-working Americans because they know our laws will not be enforced,” a White House memo on the order says, according to the New York Post.
The memo argued that re-arresting repeat offenders who are released without bail is both “a waste of public resources and an obvious threat to public safety,” pointing to cases where violent offenders were freed and later charged with additional crimes.
On Aug. 11, President Donald Trump urged Congress to strengthen laws governing cashless bail to prevent defendants from being released without posting a cash bond before trial.
The new order fulfills Trump’s campaign promise to “crack down on the left-wing jurisdictions that refuse to prosecute dangerous criminals and set loose violent felons on cashless bail.”
The push gained momentum earlier this month when President Donald Trump mobilized the National Guard in Washington, D.C., directing federal resources to assist local law enforcement in making arrests and seizing drugs in the capital.
Several states have enacted bail reforms in recent years, shifting toward supervised pretrial release out of concern that cash bail disproportionately burdens low-income defendants. Illinois became the first state to abolish cash bail, followed by New Jersey, while New Mexico has also eliminated the practice. Most states, however, continue to require some form of bond for individuals charged with crimes, The Post added.