Florida Woman Hit with $1.8M Immigration Fine Begs: ‘Please Have Mercy’

A woman from South Florida who has lived in the U.S. for 20 years is being fined a huge $1.82 million by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for not leaving the country after getting a removal order in 2005.

The woman, a 41-year-old U.S. mother of three, asked to only be called Maria because she was afraid for her safety.

Maria, who is from Honduras, said she has anxiety every day and can’t sleep since getting the letter from ICE’s civil fines department.

“I’ve had anxiety every day since then…” I can’t fall asleep… This is what she told CBS News Miami: “I don’t feel.” “I don’t want to go back.”

A huge fee and an order from 20 years ago

In February 2005, Maria came to the United States through California. After two months, she was told to leave the country because she didn’t show up for an immigration case.

A letter sent on May 9 says that ICE is now charging her $500 for every day she has been in the U.S. since the order, which adds up to $1,821,350.

“I told the immigration officer I didn’t have any family in this country or a specific place to stay,” she said. “I never received any document and they did not know where I was going to be.”

The fine was given because of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which lets the government punish illegal people every day who don’t follow removal orders.

Lawyer calls it a fine “completely crazy,” plans get support

Michelle Sanchez, Maria’s lawyer, said the fine is too high and unfair because her client wasn’t told all the consequences.

“For me that is absolutely nuts!” Sanchez said. In 2024, she asked for Maria’s case to be reopened, saying that her client should be allowed to live in the U.S. because she had lived there for a long time and didn’t have a crime record.

Sanchez also talked about Maria’s three U.S.-citizen children, who would face “extreme and exceptionally unusual hardships” if their mother was released.

Under the Biden administration, ICE lawyers had the freedom to reopen some deportation cases. However, Sanchez said that her client’s case was turned down in March because the Trump administration did not provide any direction on how to make such decisions. Maria got the fine after two months.

Sanchez said she is going to appeal, saying Maria was never told what would happen legally if she didn’t leave the U.S.

Maria, on the other hand, said she doesn’t want to go back to Honduras.

“It would be extremely painful to be separated from my children, this is their country, this is all they know,” she added. “Please have mercy I want to stay with them.”