United States President Donald Trump is planning to fine immigrants under deportation orders up to $998 a day if they fail to leave the United States and to seize their property if they do not pay.
The fines stem from a 1996 law that was enforced for the first time in 2018, during first term in office.
The administration reportedly plans to apply the penalties retroactively for up to five years, which could result in fines of more than $1 million, considering seizing the property of immigrants who do not pay the fines.
The US Department of Homeland Security, DHS, spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that immigrants in the US illegally should use a mobile app formerly known as CBP One – rebranded as CBP Home under Trump – to “self deport and leave the country now”.
“If they don’t, they will face the consequences. This includes a fine of $998 per day for every day that the illegal alien overstayed their final deportation order,”; McLaughlin said.
Recall that President Trump kicked off a sweeping immigration crackdown after taking office in January, testing the bounds of US law to increase arrests and deportations.
The planned fines target the roughly 1.4 million immigrants who have been ordered removed by an immigration judge.
It will also be called that Trump invoked the 1996 law during his first term to levy fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars against nine immigrants seeking sanctuary in churches.
According to court records, the administration withdrew the penalties, but then proceeded with smaller fines of about $60,000 per person against at least four of the immigrants.
