The Department of Homeland Security has levied more than 100,000 civil penalties against undocumented immigrants during the Trump administration, with the fines adding up to about $84 billion, Fox News Digital has learned. The agency has also collected more than $1 billion in payments tied to those penalties.
A DHS official told Fox News Digital that since President Donald Trump returned to office roughly 18 months ago, the department has issued 103,000 civil fines amounting to approximately $84 billion.
By July, DHS had brought in around $1.2 billion from those fine payments, according to the official.
Soon after Trump began his new term, his administration said it would start imposing daily fines of $998 on undocumented immigrants who were under final removal orders but did not leave the United States voluntarily or otherwise follow those orders. DHS has said the fines must be paid before deportation, and the department has warned that it could move to seize assets from individuals who do not pay.
The fines are part of a broader Trump administration immigration enforcement strategy aimed at pressuring undocumented immigrants to depart the country. DHS has said those who decline to self-deport may face a “significant financial penalty.”
Homeland Security officials have defended the approach as a lower-cost alternative to standard deportation proceedings, saying the policy is intended to push undocumented immigrants to leave the U.S. on their own.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection also circulated a flyer describing the “benefits” and “consequences” for undocumented immigrants who choose to self-deport through the CBP Home app.
“Self-deportation is safe,” the flyer said. “Leave on your own terms by picking your departure flight.”
According to DHS, non-criminal illegal immigrants who voluntarily leave the United States may keep money they earned while in the country and preserve eligibility to pursue legal immigration in the future. Some may also qualify for subsidized flights if they cannot afford travel home.
Meanwhile, the flyer warns that those who fail to self-deport will be “apprehended by DHS with no opportunity to get your affairs in order beforehand.”
In May, Fox News Digital reported that more than 3 million illegal immigrants had left the United States during Trump’s first year back in office, according to figures provided by DHS. The department said an estimated 2.2 million of those migrants self-deported.
DHS also said the administration had deported nearly 900,000 illegal immigrants and arrested more than 900,000 others as of May 17.
The department said the figures demonstrate that Trump’s immigration crackdown has reshaped migration patterns following a record number of illegal crossings during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
