Undocumented immigrants face steep fines under new Trump rule

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A new rule allows immigration authorities to issue fines up to $500 for illegally crossing the border and $1,000 per day for staying in the U.S. if so ordered.

Millions of people living illegally in the United States are facing stiff new fines from the Trump administration as the White House pressures migrants to self-deport to their birth countries.

A newly issued rule allows federal immigration authorities to fine people up to $500 for illegally crossing the border and $1,000 per day for not leaving the United States if so ordered. The measure also allows a $10,000 fine for people who said they would leave voluntarily but haven’t.

Crossing the border illegally or overstaying a visa is typically considered a civil violation, and the White House said the fines reflect the administration’s efforts to reduce illegal immigration.

“The law doesn’t enforce itself; there must be consequences for breaking it,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

Federal law has long given authorities the power to impose such fines, although they were rarely issued until the first Trump administration, and even then only rarely because officials found the process cumbersome.

President Joe Biden halted the fines during his term. Previously, issuing the fines required federal agents to either personally serve the notice upon a person by certified mail, or to their attorney and people had the right to contest it after being given a 30-day warning that the fine was coming. The new rule gives people 15 days to appeal.

White House officials said mailing the notices to people would be effective because the law already requires non-citizens to register their addresses with the government.

The fines represent another plank in Trump’s campaign platform of tough immigration enforcement, which includes high-profile detentions and deportations, along with potential $1,000 payments to people who voluntarily leave the United States.

Critics say federal authorities previously didn’t bother issuing such fines because it was tantamount to getting “blood from a stone,” noting that many undocumented immigrants work low-paying jobs.

“Many people ordered removed for missing a court hearing could face these fines ‒ even if they didn’t know about the hearing because the government failed to provide adequate notice (or they were kids),” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council said in a social media post. “There will likely be legal challenges to the regulation, as it has entirely skipped the normal ‘notice and comment’ regulatory process. It’s clear that there was no emergency here; the current process did permit fines, just with more due process than the Trump admin wanted.”