Latest news with #US-citizen
Time of India
21-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Low-income migrants fined up to $1.8 million by Trump admin
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House. WASHINGTON: Wendy Ortiz was surprised to find out she was being fined by US immigration authorities for being in the country illegally - but it was the amount that truly shocked her: $1.8 million. Ortiz, 32, who earns $13 an hour in her job at a meatpacking plant in Pennsylvania, has lived in the US for a decade, after fleeing El Salvador to escape a violent ex-partner and gang threats, she said in an interview and in immigration paperwork. Her salary barely covers rent and expenses for her autistic US-citizen son. "It's not fair," she said. "Where is someone going to find that much money?" In the last few weeks, US President Trump has started to operationalise a plan to fine migrants who fail to leave the US after a final deportation order , issuing notices to 4,500 migrants with penalties totaling more than $500 million, a senior Trump official said, requesting anonymity. Reuters spoke with eight immigration lawyers around the country who said their clients had been fined from several thousand dollars to just over $1.8 million. The recipients of the notices were informed that they had 30 days to contest, in writing, under oath, and with evidence as to why the penalty should not be imposed. The steep fines are part of Trump's aggressive push to get immigrants in the US illegally to leave the country voluntarily, or "self deport." The Trump administration plan, details of which were first reported in April, include levying fines of $998 per day for migrants who failed to leave the US after a deportation order. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Switch to UnionBank Rewards Card UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo The administration planned to issue fines retroactively for up to five years. Under that framework, the maximum would be $1.8 million. The govt would then consider seizing the property of immigrants who could not pay. It remains unclear exactly how the Trump administration would collect the fines and seize property. The fines reviewed by Reuters were issued by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but a separate agency - Customs and Border Protection (CBP) - has been asked to process them and handle potential forfeitures, Reuters reported in April. The US department of homeland security did not respond to a request for comment.
Straits Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Low-income migrants fined up to $2.3 million by Trump administration
Immigration lawyers said their clients had been fined from several thousand dollars to just over US$1.8 million. PHOTO: REUTERS WASHINGTON - Ms Wendy Ortiz was surprised to find out she was being fined by US immigration authorities for being in the country illegally - but it was the amount that truly shocked her: US$1.8 million (S$2.3 million) . Ms Ortiz, 32, who earns US$13 an hour in her job at a meatpacking plant in Pennsylvania, has lived in the United States for a decade, after fleeing El Salvador to escape a violent ex-partner and gang threats, she said in an interview and in immigration paperwork. Her salary barely covers rent and expenses for her autistic 6-year-old US-citizen son. 'It's not fair,' she said. 'Where is someone going to find that much money?' In the last few weeks, US President Donald Trump has started to operationalise a plan to fine migrants who fail to leave the US after a final deportation order, issuing notices to 4,500 migrants with penalties totaling more than US$500 million, a senior Trump official said, requesting anonymity to share internal figures. Reuters spoke with eight immigration lawyers around the country who said their clients had been fined from several thousand dollars to just over US$1.8 million. The recipients of the notices were informed that they had 30 days to contest, in writing, under oath, and with evidence as to why the penalty should not be imposed. The steep fines are part of Mr Trump's aggressive push to get immigrants in the US illegally to leave the country voluntarily, or 'self deport'. The Trump administration plan, details of which were first reported by Reuters in April, include levying fines of US$998 per day for migrants who failed to leave the US after a deportation order. The administration planned to issue fines retroactively for up to five years, Reuters reported. Under that framework, the maximum would be US$1.8 million. The government would then consider seizing the property of immigrants who could not pay. It remains unclear exactly how the Trump administration would collect the fines and seize property. Immigration lawyers baffled The fines reviewed by Reuters were issued by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but a separate agency - Customs and Border Protection - has been asked to process them and handle potential forfeitures, Reuters reported in April. CBP is still working out the complicated logistics to conduct seizures, a CBP official said, requesting anonymity. The US Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in April that immigrants in the US illegally should 'self deport and leave the country now'. The fines stem from a 1996 law that was enforced for the first time in 2018, during Mr Trump's first term in office, and target the roughly 1.4 million migrants who have been ordered deported by an immigration judge. The Trump administration withdrew fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars against nine migrants who sought sanctuary in churches in his first term after a legal challenge, but proceeded with smaller penalties. Mr Joe Biden's administration dropped the fines in 2021. Mr Robert Scott, a New York City-based immigration lawyer, said he was baffled when one of his clients - a low-income Mexican woman who has lived in the US for 25 years - also received a US$1.8 million fine. 'At first you look at something like this and think it's fake,' he said. 'I've never seen a client receive anything like this.' Mr Scott said the woman received a final deportation order in 2013 but was not aware of it at the time. The woman filed a motion i n 2024 to reopen the removal order, which is still pending, Mr Scott said. 'She hasn't been hiding,' he said. 'I find it curious that they would pick on someone like that. I don't know if it's random, I don't know if she's low-hanging fruit. I don't know.' Seeking relief, then targeted After crossing the border in 2015, Ms Ortiz was released to pursue her asylum claim when an officer found she had a credible fear of persecution, documents show. But she said she never received an immigration court hearing notice and was ordered deported after failing to show up to court in 2018. Ms Ortiz's immigration lawyer requested humanitarian relief from the US government on Jan 8, saying she faced danger in El Salvador and that her son would not have access to services for autistic children. The petition asked for 'prosecutorial discretion' and for the government to reopen and dismiss her case. Axel, son of Ms Wendy Ortiz, waits to go to the park, at their home in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, on May 17. PHOTO: REUTERS Twelve days later, Mr Trump took office and launched his wide-ranging immigration crackdown. Ms Rosina Stambaugh, Ms Ortiz's attorney, said she had requested a 30-day extension and was considering ways to fight the fine in court. 'She is a mother of an autistic child, she has no criminal history, and they have all of her background information,' Ms Stambaugh said. 'I just think it's absolutely insane.' Lawyers said clients who received the notices also included spouses of US citizens, who were actively trying to legalise their immigration status. Ms Rosa, a US citizen in New York, said her Honduran husband was fined US$5,000. She said her husband was not able to leave the country after being granted voluntary departure in 2018 because she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She hopes once she explains the situation, that the fine may be waived. If not, she said, he will have to work many extra hours to pay it. 'It's one thing after the other,' she said. 'This whole process has cost us so much money.' REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
AsiaOne
29-04-2025
- Politics
- AsiaOne
Deported Cuban mother separated from breastfeeding 1-year-old daughter, World News
HAVANA — Cuban mother Heidy Sanchez collapsed into tears as she recalled the moment last week when US immigration officials in Florida told her she would be deported and separated from her still-breastfeeding 1-year-old daughter. "They told me to call my husband, that our daughter had to stay and that I would go," she told Reuters in an interview at a family member's home near the Cuban capital, Havana. "My daughter got nervous and agitated and began to ask for milk, but it didn't matter to them." The US Department of Homeland Security told Reuters that Sanchez' statement was inaccurate and contradicted standard Immigration and Customs Enforcement protocol. "Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with someone the parent designates," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed response late on Monday (April 28). "In this case, the parent stated they wanted to be removed without the child and left the child in the care of a safe relative in the United States." DHS did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for evidence that Sanchez had been offered the choice to take her child with her to Cuba. Sanchez said she arrived in her home country hours after being detained, with no passport or identification and no documentation from the United States explaining the reason for her deportation. The contradictions in Sanchez' case highlight concerns among civil rights advocates over the due process rights of immigrants during US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, a key platform of his 2024 election campaign. Trump's administration on Monday touted the early results of the aggressive enforcement measures, highlighting a drop in illegal border crossings. Democrats and civil rights advocates, however, have criticised his administration's tactics, including the cases of several US-citizen children recently deported with their parents. One of the children had a rare form of cancer, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Unlike those cases, Sanchez, who was surprised at a routine check-in at an ICE office in Tampa last Thursday, said she was given no choice but to leave behind her daughter, a US citizen. She said officials separated her from her child, escorted her to a van, handcuffed her and later that day, deported her by air to Cuba alongside 81 others. Sanchez, 44, had been under deportation orders since 2019 but was allowed to temporarily live and work in the United States as long as she regularly checked in with ICE. During that time, she married a Cuban-born naturalised US citizen and had her first child in November of 2023. Her husband sought legal residence in the US for Sanchez two years ago as a result of their marriage, but had yet to receive a response, she said. Sanchez broke down several times during the interview with Reuters. She said she understood that ICE officials were "just doing their job" but said separating a mother from her breastfeeding infant was "unjust." "I can't sleep, I can't rest," she said. "All I ask is that they reunite me again with my daughter." The case underscores a sharp break in policy between the Trump and Biden administrations. Under Biden, ICE officials were instructed to consider the impact of enforcement action on families. Trump rescinded that guidance, which had prioritised the deportations of serious criminals. Instead, Trump broadened the scope of enforcement, including targeting migrants like Sanchez with standing deportation orders. Sanchez, who said she had no criminal record, is now just a few hundred miles from her daughter in Florida but a world apart. Worsening shortages of food, fuel and medicine on the communist-run island, just 90 miles (145 km) off Key West, have made life unbearable for many Cubans. The crisis has spurred a record-breaking exodus from the island of over one million people, or upwards of 10 per cent off the population, a predicament Cuba blames on US sanctions that contribute to strangling an already inefficient state-run economy. Sanchez said she now faced the "impossible" decision to remain apart from her infant daughter or bringing her to crisis-racked Cuba. "Everybody knows the situation here," she said. [[nid:717278]]
India Today
29-04-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Trump signs executive orders on immigration, law enforcement, and English skills
US President Donald Trump's administration touted the early results of his immigration crackdown on Monday despite concerns over due process, as Trump acted to take further steps while photos of alleged criminal offenders were displayed on the White House signed three executive orders on first calls for the attorney general to identify cities and states failing to comply with federal immigration The second relates to protections for law enforcement third is tied to English literacy for commercial truck launched an aggressive enforcement campaign after taking office, surging troops to the southern border and pledging to deport millions of immigrants in the United States Republican president, who made immigration a major campaign issue in 2024, said the actions were needed after years of high illegal immigration under his predecessor, Democrat Joe House officials at a press briefing touted a steep decline in illegal crossings at the border during Trump's first three months in office - even as concerns have emerged over the due process rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens swept up in the dragnet.\The US Border Patrol arrested 7,200 migrants illegally crossing the border in March, the lowest monthly total since 2000 and down from a peak of 250,000 in December have the most secure border in the history of this nation and the numbers prove it," Trump border czar Tom Homan said at the and civil rights advocates have criticized Trump's heightened enforcement tactics, including the cases of several children who are US citizens who were recently deported with their parents. One of the children has a rare form of cancer, according to the American Civil Liberties blamed the parents for putting their children at risk of deportation by remaining in the United States."If you choose to have a US-citizen child, knowing you're in this country illegally, you put yourself in that position," he the US Constitution, anyone born in the country is automatically granted citizenship, a right that Trump has tried to ban under an executive order he issued when he took office in January. The Supreme Court is due to hear arguments in the case next his first hundred days in office, Trump has moved to strip legal immigration status from hundreds of thousands of people, increasing the pool of those who can potentially be arrests of immigrants in the United States illegally have spiked, deportations remain below last year's levels under Biden when there were more people illegally crossing the border who could be quickly were down in Trump's first three months in office from 195,000 last year to 130,000 this year, Reuters reported last week. Homan defended the figures and said it was not fair to compare them to Biden-era tallies.U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities have been over capacity, with some 48,000 people in custody as of early April, beyond the funded level of 41, said that Texas military base Fort Bliss could be ready "in the very near future" to hold migrant detainees. The Trump administration has already been using the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, posted on the White House lawn featured 100 people charged or convicted of serious crimes, including murder, rape and fentanyl distribution. Numerous studies show immigrants do not commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born StandoffTrump has criticized cities and states that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, labeling them "sanctuaries" and blaming them for releasing criminal offenders instead of coordinating their transfer to order on Monday said some state and local officials were engaging in a "lawless insurrection against the supremacy of Federal law" by obstructing immigration second order seeks to strengthen local law enforcement with better training, higher pay and benefits, and enhanced legal protections. It directs the attorney general to create a mechanism that would provide "legal resources and indemnification to law enforcement officers who unjustly incur expenses and liabilities for actions taken during the performance of their official duties to enforce the law."A third order said proficiency in English should be a "non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers" and said his administration would enforce that week, a federal judge blocked Trump's administration from withholding federal funding from more than a dozen so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that have declined to cooperate with Trump's hardline immigration officials arrested a Wisconsin judge on Friday and charged her with helping a man in her court briefly evade immigration authorities. The arrest triggered backlash from Democrats and immigrant rights advocates who raised concerns that immigrant victims may not feel safe in defended the arrest, saying that the administration would enforce laws prohibiting harboring of a person in the United States illegally.'You will be prosecuted, judge or not," he are split on Trump's immigration approach, but he has a 45% approval rating on immigration, better than other major issues, a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in mid-April Read: Houthi rebels claim US airstrike killed 68 migrants in Yemen
AsiaOne
29-04-2025
- Politics
- AsiaOne
Trump touts immigration crackdown despite concerns about due process, World News
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump's administration touted the early results of his immigration crackdown on Monday (April 28) despite concerns over due process, as Trump acted to take further steps while photos of alleged criminal offenders were displayed on the White House lawn. Trump signed three executive orders on Monday. The first calls for the attorney general to identify cities and states failing to comply with federal immigration laws, the second relates to protections for law enforcement officers, and the third is tied to English literacy for commercial truck drivers. Trump launched an aggressive enforcement campaign after taking office, surging troops to the southern border and pledging to deport millions of immigrants in the United States illegally. The Republican president, who made immigration a major campaign issue in 2024, said the actions were needed after years of high illegal immigration under his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. White House officials at a press briefing touted a steep decline in illegal crossings at the border during Trump's first three months in office - even as concerns have emerged over the due process rights of immigrants and US citizens swept up in the dragnet. The US Border Patrol arrested 7,200 migrants illegally crossing the border in March, the lowest monthly total since 2000 and down from a peak of 250,000 in December 2023. "We have the most secure border in the history of this nation and the numbers prove it," Trump border czar Tom Homan said at the briefing. Democrats and civil rights advocates have criticised Trump's heightened enforcement tactics, including the cases of several children who are US citizens who were recently deported with their parents. One of the children has a rare form of cancer, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Homan blamed the parents for putting their children at risk of deportation by remaining in the United States. [[nid:716089]] "If you choose to have a US-citizen child, knowing you're in this country illegally, you put yourself in that position," he said. Under the US Constitution, anyone born in the country is automatically granted citizenship, a right that Trump has tried to ban under an executive order he issued when he took office in January. The Supreme Court is due to hear arguments in the case next month. In his first hundred days in office, Trump has moved to strip legal immigration status from hundreds of thousands of people, increasing the pool of those who can potentially be deported. While arrests of immigrants in the United States illegally have spiked, deportations remain below last year's levels under Biden when there were more people illegally crossing the border who could be quickly returned. Deportations were down in Trump's first three months in office from 195,000 last year to 130,000 this year, Reuters reported last week. Homan defended the figures and said it was not fair to compare them to Biden-era tallies. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities have been over capacity, with some 48,000 people in custody as of early April, beyond the funded level of 41,500. Homan said that Texas military base Fort Bliss could be ready "in the very near future" to hold migrant detainees. The Trump administration has already been using the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Photos posted on the White House lawn featured 100 people charged or convicted of serious crimes, including murder, rape and fentanyl distribution. Numerous studies show immigrants do not commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans. Sanctuary standoff Trump has criticised cities and states that limit co-operation with federal immigration enforcement, labeling them "sanctuaries" and blaming them for releasing criminal offenders instead of coordinating their transfer to Ice. His order on Monday said some state and local officials were engaging in a "lawless insurrection against the supremacy of Federal law" by obstructing immigration enforcement. [[nid:717247]] A second order seeks to strengthen local law enforcement with better training, higher pay and benefits, and enhanced legal protections. It directs the attorney general to create a mechanism that would provide "legal resources and indemnification to law enforcement officers who unjustly incur expenses and liabilities for actions taken during the performance of their official duties to enforce the law." A third order said proficiency in English should be a "non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers" and said his administration would enforce that requirement. Last week, a federal judge blocked Trump's administration from withholding federal funding from more than a dozen so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that have declined to co-operate with Trump's hardline immigration crackdown. US officials arrested a Wisconsin judge on Friday and charged her with helping a man in her court briefly evade immigration authorities. The arrest triggered backlash from Democrats and immigrant rights advocates who raised concerns that immigrant victims may not feel safe in courthouses. Homan defended the arrest, saying that the administration would enforce laws prohibiting harbouring of a person in the United States illegally. "You will be prosecuted, judge or not," he said. Americans are split on Trump's immigration approach, but he has a 45 per cent approval rating on immigration, better than other major issues, a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in mid-April found.
