US President Donald Trump‘s administration has filed a lawsuit of $1 million on an illegal immigrant for failing to depart from the country.
The federal lawsuit has demanded a civil penalty of $941,114, along with accrued interest, from illegal immigrant Marta Alicia Ramirez Veliz, who allegedly resides in Chesterfield County, Virginia without legal status.
What do we know about Marta Alicia Ramirez Veliz?
It is not clear when Ramirez Veliz first entered the US. But she was handed an order of removal by an immigration judge in 2019, which became final after the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed her appeal in 2022, according to the Department of Justice.
In April, Ramirez Veliz was served a notice stating she would be fined, and she failed to file an appeal within the necessary 30-day window, according to government lawyers.
Officials arrived at the nearly $1 million figure by assessing a $998 penalty for each day between the Board of Immigration Appeals’ dismissal and her notification in April.
“Defendant has not paid any of the penalty and remains liable to the United States for the full penalty amount plus statutory additions,” officials said, according to The Independent.
“That does sound like the largest number we have heard when we were tracking this,” Charles Moore, an attorney with Public Justice, a public interest law group, told Politico.
“We know that the amounts were as low as $3,000 and as high as several hundred thousand but, no, we hadn’t heard of anything close to $1 million,” he added.
How many illegal immigrants has Trump fined?
The Trump administration has handed out about 21,500 fines, totalling more than $6 billion, to immigrants who allegedly disregard orders to leave the country, The Independent previously reported.
What about immigrants who choose to self-deport?
Immigrants who choose to “self-deport” will not be required to pay the levies imposed on them, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The administration has advertised “cost-free travel, forgiveness of any failure to depart fines, and a $2,600 exit bonus to facilitate travel back to their home country or another country where they have lawful status” if immigrants choose to “self-deport” through CBP Home app.