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.
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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.
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On her decision not to attend her hearing back in 2005, Maria said: “I told the immigration officer I didn’t have any family in this country or a specific place to stay. I never received any document and they did not know where I was going to be.”
Michelle C Sanchez, her attorney, called the fine “absolutely nuts” and argued that her client was never properly informed of the consequences of her actions.
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She added that she plans to appeal Maria’s case.
Sanchez also warned that Maria’s children would suffer “extreme and exceptionally unusual hardships” if their mother were forcibly returned to Honduras without them.
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The episode is just the latest in a series of dramatic stories to have emerged as a result of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration since he returned to office in January, which he has touted as the largest mass deportation push in American history.
* Original Article:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ice-deportation-immigration-fine-honduras-b2754340.html