(The Center Square) – The Trump administration is forging ahead with a range of border security efforts, including implementing penalties for those in the U.S. illegally who don’t self deport and expanding detention facility capacity for those being apprehended.
This is after President Donald Trump deployed 10,000 U.S. troops to shut down the southwest border, negotiated repatriation and extradition of violent foreign nationals with the governments of multiple countries, is aggressively deporting violent criminals, ended parole programs and a phone app created by the Biden administration to facilitate the entry of millions of inadmissible foreign nationals, and is prosecuting record numbers of illegal border crossers.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly warned foreign nationals living illegally in the U.S. to voluntarily leave or they will be targeted for removal, criminally prosecuted, and subject to civil fines and penalties, The Center Square reported. DHS repurposed the Biden administration CBP One app to a new Home app instructing foreign nationals to use it to document their departure. DHS also notified nearly one million who were released into the country using the app that their parole and work authorization permits had been terminated and to “depart the United States immediately.”
Now, the administration is proposing fining illegal foreign nationals $998 a day if they don’t voluntarily leave the U.S., citing the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act, which the administration first enforced in 2018.
Under the law, 8 USC 1324d imposes civil penalties for failure to depart. It stipulates that “Any alien subject to a final order of removal who- (1) willfully fails or refuses to-(A) depart from the United States pursuant to the order, (B) make timely application in good faith for travel or other documents necessary for departure, or (C) present for removal at the time and place required by the Attorney General; or (2) conspires to or takes any action designed to prevent or hamper the alien’s departure pursuant to the order, shall pay a civil penalty of not more than $500 to the Commissioner for each day the alien is in violation of this section.”
The Trump administration “plans to apply the penalties retroactively for up to five years, which could result in fines of more than $1 million,” a senior Trump official told Reuters.
“For decades, this law has been ignored – not anymore,” DHS said when announcing it was requiring all noncitizens living in the U.S. legally and illegally to register with the federal government in accordance with the law,” The Center Square reported.
“An alien’s failure to depart the U.S. is a crime that could result in significant financial penalty. An alien’s failure to register is a crime that could result in a fine, imprisonment, or both,” DHS warned.
In another move, the administration appears to be ready to spend $45 billion on emergency detention centers and related services over two years, according to multiple requests for proposals (RFPs) for contractors to provide services for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention compliance and removal efforts. Contractors are encouraged to submit proposals to provide additional detention facilities for ICE, provide transportation services, hire security guards and patrol services, housekeeping, records personnel, medical support and other administrative services for a two-year period ending in April 2027, according to the documents.
The purpose of the RFPs is to establish “emergency detention and related services strategic sourcing vehicle to bring an additional allotment of detention beds online nationwide in compliance with the President’s Declaration of a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States and related Executive Orders,” ICE says.
According to the pricing schedule, the federal government would pay between $150 to $280 per bed a day to detain illegal foreign nationals, $70 an hour for transportation services, between $70 and $138 an hour for detention guards, $810,000 a month for medical support services, and nearly $91,000 for contract detention processing support, with rates in each category increasing substantially the second year.
Senate Republicans on Saturday approved a budget allocating nearly $175 billion over the next 10 years for federal immigration enforcement and border security efforts.
Border Czar Tom Homan has repeatedly told Congress that federal agents need more money and resources to carry out the largest deportation effort in U.S. history.
“The fact that millions of people illegally entered the U.S. and nine out of 10 are ordered to be removed necessitates a mass deportation operation,” Homan told The Center Square. “The only other option is to let them stay,” which isn’t happening under his watch or the Trump administration, he said.
