The Trump Administration has issued 21,500 fines totaling $6.1 billion to immigrants who have ignored deportation orders, and in recent weeks, the Administration has started threatening immigrants with lawsuits, debt collectors and ruinous tax bills if they don’t pay the financial penalties. If they self-deport, however, Homeland Security will waive the fines and give them a $1,000 “exit bonus.” The fines of $998 a day for being in the U.S. illegally are being levied retroactively to persuade illegal immigrants with cases in the backlogged immigration court system to leave the U.S.
