Migrants are receiving another warning from President Donald Trump’s administration: “self-deport and leave the country now” or stay and risk hefty fines and confiscation of property. The president is utilizing a 1996 law -- §1324d. Civil penalties for failure to depart -- that allows the government to impose a daily fine on illegal immigrants who haven’t left the country when they have an order of removal to do so.
Migrants Benefit by Self-Deporting
“Illegal aliens should use the CBP Home app to self-deport and leave the country now,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Tuesday, April 8. “If they don’t, they will face the consequences. This includes a fine of $998 per day for every day that the illegal alien overstayed their final deportation order.”
This also means the fines can be assessed retroactively for up to five years, which could ratchet up to more than $1 million per migrant, officials told Reuters.
Fox News Digital obtained a flyer that shows the benefits and consequences for illegal migrants who fail to self-deport using the CBP Home app. “Self-deportation is safe,” according to the flyer. “Leave on your own terms by picking up your departure flight.”
The undocumented not only will escape paying nearly $1,000 a day in fines but also will be able to keep any money they earned while in the United States illegally. In addition, they will be able to protect their eligibility for future legal immigration. If they can’t afford a ticket back to their country of origin, they may even be able to get subsidized flights.
Stay and Face the Consequences
The verbiage on the flyer warns migrants that should they decide not to self-deport, they will be “apprehended by DHS with no opportunity to get your affairs in order beforehand.”
Failure to leave could also mean confiscation of any properties and belongings migrants may have as well as forever being banned from entering the country legally. Besides the $998 per day fine, illegal immigrants could also find themselves facing even more financial obligations if they fail to leave after “claiming that you will.” Fines ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 could be added to their monetary burdens.
And if that isn’t enough incentive to leave, then the flyer warns, “If you fail to self-deport, you may be subject to jail time.”
This isn’t the first time Trump has invoked the 1996 law; he did so during his first term in office, too.
Rebranding the CBP One App
The CBP One app was created under Joe Biden’s administration to make it easier for migrants to set appointments to cross the border. However, under Trump, this cellphone app has been rebranded the CBP Home app. Instead of using it to get into the United States, it’s to be used to self-deport. “The Trump administration is revoking the protected status of nearly one million people who have entered the U.S. using an app created by the Biden administration that allowed them to enter the country first and then schedule a court hearing on their legal status,” Just the News explained.
The Department of Homeland Security told The Hill, “The Biden Administration abused the parole authority to allow millions of illegal aliens into the U.S., which further fueled the worst border crisis in U.S. history. Canceling these parolees is a promise kept to the American people to secure our borders and protect our national security.”
Is it ironic, or just deserts, that the app once used to fast-track illegal migrants into the country is now being used to send them home? Whatever the case, the deportation program is ramping up even more.
.jpg&w=1920&q=75)
.jpg&w=1920&q=75)
