Trump plans to fine $ 998 a day to migrants who do not comply with deportation orders

Almost a thousand dollars a day. That is the fine that Donald Trump’s administration plans to charge each migrant with deportation order if he does not leave the United States. He who does not pay the daily sanction of $ 998 also runs the risk of authorities confiscating their property. About 1.4 million migrants whose expulsion has already been ordered by an immigration judge could be sanctioned under the new strategy of the Republican government, which plans to apply the fines retroactively for a maximum of five years, according to Reuters, which could result in penalties of more than one million dollars.

By The country

The Department of National Security (DHS) already warned of the fines in a publication in networks at the end of last month, in which it urged migrants to self -portion through CBP Home, the application formerly known as CBP One under the administration of Joe Biden, which now includes a tool for their users to deliver their personal data to the immigration authorities and voluntarily leave the country. «The CBP Home application gives illegal foreigners the option to leave now and self -transport. If they do not, we will find them, we will deport them and never return,» said the March 31 post. Among the consequences listed for not using the application was a daily fine of $ 998, as well as another of between $ 1,000 and $ 1,500 for migrants who do not self -destitute after having indicated that they would do so and possible penalties in jail.

Reuters has confirmed government plans on Monday to collect the daily fine after accessing emails and other internal documents of the administration. According to the news agency, the White House has pressed at the service of customs and border protection (CBP) so that it is occupied with the question of sanctions, the confiscation of assets of immigrants who do not pay and the sale of their assets. The civil asset confiscation division of the Department of Justice could be another option for seizures.

In response to Reuters, the DHS spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, has reaffirmed that those migrants who do not self -destitute via CBP Home «will face the consequences», which «include a fine of $ 998 per day for every day that the illegal foreigner exceeded their final deportation order.»

The sanctions would be carried out under a law of three decades ago that Trump has already used during his first term. The norm, added to the Immigration and Nationality Law in 1996, establishes that every foreigner subject to a definitive order of expulsion “that deliberately does not leave or refuses to leave the United States in compliance with the order” or “conspire or perform any action destined to prevent or hinder”, must pay “a civil fine not exceeding 500 dollars” for each day.

In 2019, Trump invoked this law to impose fines of between 300,000 and 500,000 dollars to a group of undocumented migrants who had sought refuge in churches to evade their deportation orders. The churches were then considered «sensitive places», where for decades the immigration authorities could not carry out arrests. A policy that the president discarded as soon as he swears his second term.

The Trump administration then withdrew the sanctions of hundreds of thousands of dollars a few months later, but then proceeded with fines less than 60,000 dollars per person against at least four refugee migrants in churches. The Biden government stopped imposing fines and annulled related policies when it took office in 2021.

It is not yet known when the Government will begin to collect fines this time, but a memorandum reviewed by Reuters showed that the CBP has no capacity to administer the sanctions and manage the seizures and to assign to the agency this task could lead to significant costs. For example, the note anticipated that the CBP would need at least 1,000 new parallel specialists, more than triple than it has now, according to the agency.

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