The Justice Department seems to have calculated the sum “by imposing a $998 daily fine for each of the 943 days that passed between the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissing Ramirez Veliz’s appeal and Immigration and Customs Enforcement sending her a formal bill last April.”
The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit seeking nearly $1 million from an immigrant who allegedly remained in the United States after being issued notice to leave.
According to POLITICO, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of plaintiff Marta Alicia Ramirez Veliz in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The Justice Department has asked the court to order Veliz Ramirez to pay $941,114 in penalties plus interest.
In court documents, attorneys for the government said that Ramirez Veliz chose to stay in the United States for more than three years after an appeals panel ruled against her in an immigration case.
POLITICO notes that the Justice Department seems to have calculated the sum “by imposing a $998 daily fine for each of the 943 days that passed between the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissing Ramirez Veliz’s appeal and Immigration and Customs Enforcement sending her a formal bill last April.”
“Defendant has not paid any of the penalty and remains liable to the United States for the full penalty amount plus statutory additions,” the Trump administration said.
Charles Moore, an attorney for Public Justice, told POLITICO that the government’s proposed fine is probably one of the largest on record.
“That does sound like the largest number we have heard when we were tracking this,” Moore said. ‘We know that the amounts were as low as $3,000 and as high as several hundred thousand, but no, we hadn’t heard of anything close to $1 million.”
Moore said that many of the people who have received larger fines appear to be immigrants who were actively attending proceedings—in other words, those making an effort to engage with the legal system and process.
“They are people who have been interacting with the system, attempting to obtain status through the proper procedure,” Moore told POLITICO. “It seems many people in this situation are folks who are getting these fines.”
Large immigration-related fines were discontinued by the Biden administration, but have been resumed under Trump’s second term. Shortly after taking office last January, Trump signed an executive order instructing immigration officials to assess overstay-related fines on certain undocumented detainees. Almost 10,000 such fines have been issued since June.
“The law doesn’t enforce itself; there must be consequences for breaking it,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said of the fines. ‘President Trump and Secretary Noem are standing up for law and order and making our government more effective and efficient at enforcing the American people’s immigration laws.”
POLITICO estimates that, to date, the Trump administration has issued more than 21,500 fines totaling in excess of $6 billion.
“They’re using the law in a way that it was never intended to apply,” Moore told POLITICO. “They’re trying to do in a way that really railroads people’s rights. […] This is not about collecting or remediating anything. The sole point here is to intimidate and scare people into leaving our country.”
Sources
Trump admin sues woman who failed to self-deport for nearly $1 million
Trump team has fined immigrants who didn’t self-deport $6 billion — and now it’s coming to collect
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