You can run from ICE. You can hide in a sanctuary city. You can ignore removal orders and hope nobody notices.
But you can’t ignore a federal lawsuit demanding nearly a million dollars.
The Trump administration just filed suit against Marta Alicia Ramirez Veliz, an illegal immigrant living in Chesterfield County, Virginia. She was told in 2022 that her request for admittance was rejected by a Justice Department appeals panel.
She stayed anyway. For 943 days.
At $998 per day, her bill is $941,114 — plus interest.
And the DOJ wants every penny.
The Legal Weapon
Congress passed this law in 1996. Bill Clinton signed it.
It allows the federal government to impose civil penalties on illegal aliens who fail to self-deport after being formally told their immigration applications were declined.
The law has existed for nearly 30 years. But until Trump, no administration actually used it to file lawsuits against individual migrants.
Trump started the practice in his first term. Biden immediately killed it.
Now it’s back. And it’s scaling up.
The Nationwide Campaign
Veliz isn’t alone.
A man in Florida has been hit with a $717,000 bill for failing to pay fines after being ordered to leave.
Migrants in Texas and California face similar lawsuits.
Federal officials have sent approximately 10,000 notices of fines through June of last year.
Ten thousand. Each carrying daily penalties that compound into six and seven figures.
This isn’t a symbolic gesture. This is systematic financial pressure on every illegal immigrant who thinks they can ignore a removal order indefinitely.
The Math
$998 per day. Every day you remain in the country after being told to leave.
That’s $6,986 per week.
$29,940 per month.
$364,270 per year.
Stay two years? You owe three-quarters of a million dollars.
Stay three years? Over a million.
These aren’t fines that can be brushed off. These are life-altering financial obligations that follow you forever — even if you eventually leave the country.
Why It Works
Traditional enforcement relies on finding people, arresting them, and physically deporting them. That’s expensive, dangerous, and limited by the number of agents available.
Financial enforcement works differently.
A lawsuit doesn’t require a SWAT team. It doesn’t put agents in danger. It doesn’t trigger protests or mobs.
It creates a legal obligation that can be collected through wage garnishment, asset seizure, and bank account levies. It makes operating in the American economy functionally impossible.
Try renting an apartment with a million-dollar federal judgment against you. Try opening a bank account. Try getting a job when the government can garnish your wages before you receive them.
The lawsuit doesn’t deport you. It makes staying unbearable.
The Self-Deportation Incentive
Here’s the carrot alongside the stick.
DHS announced that migrants who use the CBP Home app to self-deport will have their fines waived entirely.
Leave voluntarily through the proper channel? Clean slate. No fine.
Stay illegally after being told to leave? Nearly $1,000 per day, compounding indefinitely.
The choice is clear. The incentive structure is brilliant.
You don’t need to arrest everyone. You just need to make the alternative to self-deportation so financially devastating that rational people choose to leave.
The Clinton Law
The beautiful irony: this was Bill Clinton’s law.
A Democratic president signed the legislation that enables Trump to sue illegal immigrants for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
For 30 years, the law sat unused. A tool on the shelf, collecting dust while millions of people ignored removal orders with zero consequences.
All it took was an administration willing to actually use it.
“The law doesn’t enforce itself,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said. “There must be consequences for breaking it.”
Novel concept for Washington: enforce laws that already exist.
The Biden Contrast
Biden’s approach to illegal immigrants who ignored removal orders: nothing.
No fines. No lawsuits. No consequences of any kind.
Stay as long as you want. Ignore the order. Blend in. Wait for the next amnesty.
That approach produced the largest illegal immigration crisis in American history. Millions crossed knowing there would never be consequences.
Trump’s approach: you’ve been told to leave. Leave, or pay $998 per day until you do.
The difference is consequences. And consequences change behavior.
The Sanctuary Problem
Sanctuary cities have been promising illegal immigrants that local authorities won’t cooperate with federal enforcement.
But sanctuary policies can’t protect residents from federal lawsuits. A city can refuse to honor detainers. It can’t refuse to honor federal court judgments.
If you live in a sanctuary city with a $700,000 federal judgment against you, that sanctuary doesn’t extend to your bank account, your wages, or your assets.
The federal court system doesn’t care about sanctuary policies. The IRS doesn’t care about sanctuary policies. And a federal judgment follows you everywhere.
The Deterrent Effect
Word travels.
When 10,000 notices go out and lawsuits start producing six-figure judgments, the message spreads through immigrant communities faster than any government campaign could achieve.
“They’re not just deporting people. They’re suing them for everything they have.”
That message changes calculations. Suddenly, staying isn’t just risky — it’s financially ruinous.
People who might have gambled on hiding from ICE won’t gamble on hiding from the federal court system. Because courts find you eventually. And judgments don’t expire.
The Criticism
Critics will call this cruel. They’ll say you can’t squeeze blood from a stone — that illegal immigrants don’t have $941,000.
But that’s the point.
The goal isn’t to collect the money. The goal is to make remaining in the country so legally and financially untenable that self-deportation becomes the rational choice.
And for those who do have assets — who have built lives, bought property, accumulated savings while illegally present — the lawsuits ensure those assets can be seized to satisfy the judgment.
The Bottom Line
The Trump administration is suing illegal immigrants who ignore deportation orders.
$998 per day. Compounding. Enforceable through federal courts.
One woman in Virginia owes $941,114. A man in Florida owes $717,000. Thousands more face similar bills.
The law was passed in 1996. Signed by Clinton. Ignored for 30 years.
Trump is the first president to actually use it.
Self-deport through the CBP Home app and your fines are waived. Stay illegally and the meter keeps running.
$998. Every single day.
The law doesn’t enforce itself. This administration does.
