Santa Barbara County Sheriffs OfficeUPDATE: The couple were released from custody in Vancouver on $9,750 bail apiece ordered to appear at a hearing next Thursday. They must report to the Border Security Agency if they want to leave the country.
Their magic bail number in California remains $1 million.
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The next task for Randy and Evi Quaid, who are obviously on some sort of CIA/espionage/double-agent mission that no one understands?
Come up with a suitcase full of cash.
A Santa Barbara judge set bail at $1 million for the border-crossing couple, who were arrested Wednesday in Vancouver on a warrant issued after they skipped their last court hearing in California.
"We can confirm that we received word that they were detained in British Columbia," Santa Barbara Senior Deputy District Attorney Lee Carter tells E! News. "Upon hearing the news from Canada, the court raised their bail to $500,000 each."
The once estimable character actor and his wife didn't get to do much sight-seeing, with border agents quickly realizing that they were wanted in the U.S. and immediately summoning Vancouver police to pick them up.
And why were the Quaids en route to Canada again?
Well, Randy at first said they were going because he was being honored with an award from a film critics group. "I love Canada," he said at a hearing this afternoon in front of the country's Immigration and Refugee Board. "It's been a very welcoming nation to me. I would not do anything to besmirch my reputation."
Evi's rationale was somewhat different.
She told the board that she and her husband are seeking refuge in the famously friendly country because they feel persecuted in the United States.
"We feel our lives are in danger," Evi said, explaining that friends like David Carradine and Heath Ledger have been "murdered" and they could be next. (Both deaths were ruled accidental and Carradine died in Thailand, but you try reasoning with Mrs. Quaid.)
"We are requesting asylum from Hollywood star whackers," read the statement the couple released to the media via attorney Brian Tsuji.
But first, their squatting case.
After relatively skating on charges of defrauding an innkeeper, Randy and Evi are now facing felony vandalism charges after the owners of a home in Montecito that used to belong to the Quaids came back and found the rag-tag pair playing house.
They were previously free on $50,000 bail apiece, but the figure was increased tenfold "to assure their appearance in court next week because they were in essence out of the country," Carter says.
They are now due back in court on Oct. 26.
(Originally published Oct. 22, 2010, at 3:30 p.m. PT)