Oh No: Illegal Aliens Can Either Pay Massive Fines or Self Deport

This has the NY Times pretty upset (this link seems to work to strip the paywall)

https://archive.is/20260722213647/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/us/immigration-civil-fines-self-deportation.html

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.