On Tuesday, March 31, an immigrant mother received a letter from the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHSfor its acronym in English), in which the Government agency responsible for citizen security notified him of a debt greater than US$1 million (Q7 million)linked to a old deportation order.
According to what was stated during an interview with the American television network UnivisionFrom that day on, the immigrant claims that she goes out to work without knowing if she will return home, because fear for his property and constantly think about future of his two children, who are still studying at school and do not yet work.
“What worries me are my children. They are both studying and still do not have a job that allows them work full time“said the woman, who preferred to remain anonymous. However, she revealed that the origin of this problem dates back to May 2008when he tried to regularize his immigration status in the US.
According to her story, the woman received legal help and got her work permit for one year. However, when trying to renew his process, a judge denied his asylum application and granted him voluntary departure, which allows foreigners to leave the US without an order of departure. deportation formal, avoiding penalties and facilitating a possible legal return.
Fines after the deportation order
Because the woman did not leave within the established period, the voluntary departure became a deportation ordera formal ruling by an immigration judge ordering the expulsion of a person from the United States for not having legal status or violate immigration laws. “For years I didn’t hear anything about my file again,” he added.
Therefore, it was not until Tuesday, March 31, that he learned that the 2008 immigration order had accumulated a debt which exceeded US$1 million and, although it surprised the immigrant, the amount did not take the specialists by surprise, since federal law allows sanctions to be imposed for failing to comply with an exit ordered by the DHS.
In February 2026, the Department of Homeland Security reported that it would impose civil penalties from up to US$998 (Q7 thousand 625) per day, depending on the type of case, to certain people with final removal orders who did not leave the United States within the term required by law. For that reason, debt can grow quickly.
The projection of the American television network Univision illustrates the impact of these sanctions, because US$998 daily are equivalent to US$364 thousand 270 (Q2 million 783 thousand) in a calendar year, so that, according to the DHS, these fines were issued to more than 10 thousand people since the new modality was implemented.
Notifications of intent to fine
The United States Department of Homeland Security issued more than 9 thousand notifications of intention to fine for almost US$3 billion, Therefore, the federal authorities indicated that, although the figures were close to 10 thousand notices, not all of them were equivalent to sanctions definitive, because they can be contested.
According to immigration attorney Bethania María, in practice, a federal debt can end up in collection processes much more aggressivesuch as credit reports, future embargoesliens or interception of tax refunds, depending on the case and the procedure followed by the US authorities.
Likewise, the jurist explained that, although many people believe that if they pay the fine disappear the deportation order, it is not like that: “Even if they pay the debt, the deportation will not go away,” he concluded, so that these are two different processes: one financial and another migratorywhich will follow the individual until he or she meets both sanctions.