Reuters: Trump plans to fine migrants $998 a day for failing to leave after deportation order

The Trump administration plans to fine migrants 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, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.

The fines stem from a 1996 law that was enforced for the first time in 2018, during President Donald Trump's first term in office. The Trump administration plans to apply the penalties retroactively for up to five years, which could result in fines of more than $1 million, a senior Trump official said, requesting anonymity to discuss non-public plans.

The Trump administration is also considering seizing the property of immigrants who do not pay the fines, according to government emails reviewed by Reuters.

In response to questions from Reuters, U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that immigrants in the U.S. 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," McLaughlin said. "This includes a fine of $998 per day for every day that the illegal alien overstayed their final deportation order."

DHS warned of the fines in a March 31 social media post.

The Department of Justice’s civil asset forfeiture division could be another option for the seizures, one email said.

The planned fines target the roughly 1.4 million migrants who have been ordered removed by an immigration judge.

The immigration advocacy group FWD.us estimates that some 10 million migrants with no legal status or temporary protections are living with U.S. citizens or permanent residents in what are known as "mixed status households."

The steep fines could hit lower-income immigrants. An analysis of 2019 Census data by the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute found 26% of households with unauthorized immigrants had incomes below the federal poverty line.

The White House National Security Council and Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff for policy, have been pressing CBP to administer the fines and handle seizures, a CBP official wrote in a March 31 email reviewed by Reuters.

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