Undocumented People Are Getting Served with “Exorbitant” Civil Fines from DHS
Some undocumented people in the United States are being sent fines for being in the country. Two women have received fines for more than $1.8 million from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It is the latest aggressive push by the Trump administration to convince people to self-deport from the U.S.
Undocumented people are being served hefty fines
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using a rarely enforced clause in the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act. According to the law, the U.S. government can enact financial penalties on undocumented people in the U.S. The 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act states that they “shall pay a civil penalty of not more than $500 to the Commissioner for each day the alien is in violation of this section.”
For two women, that has amounted to a fine in excess of $1.8 million dollars due to the amount of time they have spent in the U.S. The two women are mothers of U.S. citizen children and now fear being separated from them or having their children removed with them.
One of the women spoke with CBS New Miami and used the name “Maria” to protect her privacy. Maria first came to the U.S. from Honduras in 2005 through California.
She said that she told the officer that she didn’t have family in the country and nowhere to stay. Maria eventually ended up moving out of California and settled in South Florida. Due to missing her court date, a judge issued an order of removal.
“I never received any document and they did not know where I was going to be,” Maria told CBS News Miami.
Wendy Ortiz, who fled El Salvador in 2015 and now lives in Pennsylvania, received a similar letter with a similar fine. The mother of a 6-year-old autistic child makes $13 an hour at a meatpacking plant.
“It’s not fair,” Ortiz told Reuters. “Where is someone going to find that much money?”
Maria’s attorney is pushing back against the civil fines
Maria’s attorney, Michelle Sanchez, applied to reopen her case in 2024 citing that she has lived in the U.S. for ten years without a criminal record. The Biden administration granted ICE attorneys discretion to reopen cases. However, Sanchez was recently told that the case would not be reopened since the Trump administration has not offered guidance on reopening cases.
“ICE is terrorizing individuals without even having to go pick them up,” Sanchez told CBS News. “They are terrorizing them by sending these notices where they are fining individuals an exorbitant amount of money that a person sometimes doesn’t even make that amount in their lifetime.”
According to Straight Arrow News, 4,500 people have received similar letters. The total fines amount to more than $500 million for undocumented people living in the U.S.
The notices, according to Sanchez, include the option for people to contest the fine in person. The attorney advises that anyone who received a letter reach out to their immigration attorney. She does not recommend attempting to contest the fine in person until you seek legal counsel.
