This has the NY Times pretty upset (this link seems to work to strip the paywall)
The Choice Facing Some Immigrants: Pay $1.8 Million in Fines or Leave
The Trump administration is aggressively deploying a potent tool to pressure undocumented immigrants into self-deporting — civil fines that can total as much as $1.8 million.
More than 100,000 people have received letters from the Homeland Security Department informing them that they owe $998 for each day that they have stayed in the United States after an immigration judge has ruled they have no legal right to remain in the country.
Fines for failing to heed a “removal” order have been permitted since the passage of immigration legislation in 1996. Until President Trump, however, no commander in chief had imposed such penalties. The effort to do so in his first term ran into logistical obstacles and never gained traction.
But after returning to the White House last year and starting his mass deportation campaign, Mr. Trump ordered “all appropriate action to ensure the assessment and collection of all fines and penalties” from people unlawfully in the country.
Now, with the administration seeking to increase financial pressure on undocumented immigrants, the pace of fines has been accelerating, according to immigration lawyers.
For immigrants who receive one, the notices amount to an agonizing ultimatum: abandon the lives they have built, or face the threat of financial ruin if the government moves to collect on the debt. Even under a five-year statutory limit, the accumulated penalties can reach a $1.8 million per person.
OK, so, let’s say I built a life hiding on the property of a NY Times bigwig, and eventually get caught: are they going to let me stay on their land? Let’s say I build a cabin in the middle of a national forest, will they let me stay? Of course not. Will the Elites let me squat and build a life at their McMansions by the sea? Nope.
Many people have “built lives” after committing crimes, and, the cops and legal system do not allow them to go back to those lives when they are caught. The best thing for these illegals to do is simply leave.
Vivi Vasquez, a Mexican immigrant, has lived in the United States for 17 years and has an active humanitarian visa application. With a work permit, she has legally worked at a convenience store and cared for seniors.
Expecting an update on her visa application, Ms. Vasquez opened an envelope that arrived in April bearing a D.H.S. logo. Instead of news about her visa, she found a form letter in which the government had checked a box next to a statement that she had “willfully” failed to depart the United States.
She owed the government $1,820,352, according to the document, which was reviewed by The New York Times. Tucked in the same envelope was a flier titled, “Self-Deport with CBP Home and Leave on Your Own Terms,” referring to an app run by Customs and Border Protection. It offered “forgiveness” for all fines to those who used the app to self deport.
“I couldn’t sleep, and I was nervous every morning I left home for work,” said Ms. Vasquez, who has three U.S.-born children, ages 10, 12 and 14.
And scaring illegal aliens, causing them to self deport is the point. The Trump admin knows there’s no way they will get that money, they just want the illegals to go.
The idea is simple: confiscate all that they have built here, including houses and businesses, so after deportation, there’s no reason for them to sneak back in, because all that they built will be gone. More, if the next President is a spineless Democrat who is willing to reopen the Biden Administration floodgates, the deported illegals will have nothing here to which to return.
This is a brilliant strategy! We have the illegals because the United States is a magnet of prosperity, with job prospects and welfare for those who haven’t quite made it yet. President Trump is attempting to reduce the incentives, the draw, for people to come here illegally.
The late but unlamented Lorenzo Salgado had built a business and had a home valued around half a million dollars, though we do not know if there is still a mortgage on the place. His American citizen children will probably get to keep that place, but you never know.
Yes, President Trump is an [insert slang term for the anus here], but we need an [insert slang term for the anus here] to get the necessary things done. “Nice guys” like both Presidents Bush, President Reagan, President Clinton, President Obama, and President
AutopenBiden allowed the illegals to stream into this country virtually unchecked; even President Trump, during his first term, was too much of a nice guy, wasn’t nearly [insert slang term for the anus here] enough when it came to kicking them out.Have you noticed that all of these excellent, truly useful, anti-illegal immigrant removal tools; were PASSED by Democrats; during the Clinton administrations; when they pretended to be anti-immigrant; to draw in more voters from the right.