Mother of three US citizens hit with $1.8m ICE fine over her failure to leave the country

[groundloop]

Source: The Independent

A woman living in southern Florida who first entered the United States illegally 20 years ago has been fined $1.82m by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for failing to leave the country.

The mother of three gave an emotional on-camera interview to CBS News Miami, in which she was identified only as “Maria,” to express her shock. The 41 year-old appealed for clemency, particularly on behalf of her children, all of whom are American citizens, who she said would suffer if she were to be deported.

[snip]

After failing to appear at a scheduled immigration hearing two months later, she was ordered to return home but instead settled in Miami-Dade, Florida, where she has lived for two decades and raised her children, now teenagers.

Then, on May 9 this year, she received a letter from ICE informing her that, under the seldom-used Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, she was being fined $500 for every subsequent day she had spent in the U.S., a penalty that now stands at $1,821,350, which she was given just 30 days to pay.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/ice-deportation-immigration-fine-honduras-b2754340.html