Wendy Ortiz works at a meatpacking plant in Pennsylvania. She makes $13 an hour. She's in the country illegally, has a final deportation order, and was offered a $2,600 free flight home courtesy of the American taxpayer. She didn't take it.
Now a federal judge says we can't even send her a bill.
U.S. District Judge George O'Toole — a Bill Clinton appointee sitting in Boston — blocked the Trump administration's policy of fining illegal immigrants who refuse to comply with deportation orders. The fines ran $998 per day and could reach $1.8 million over a retroactive period of up to five years. Judge O'Toole ruled the penalties violated the Administrative Procedure Act and lacked specific justification.
"The plaintiffs live in an economically precarious position even without the imposition of the government's exorbitant fines," O'Toole wrote. "They face the possible garnishment of their already modest wages, loss of any vehicles and homes, federal collections lawsuits and other adverse collateral consequences."
The plaintiffs. The people who entered the country illegally, received final deportation orders, and chose to stay anyway. The court's concern is that enforcing consequences might be financially inconvenient for them.
One plaintiff, identified as Nancy M., had accumulated $1.8 million in fines — the maximum. She works 60-plus hours a week at two jobs. As reported by American Wire News, Ortiz responded to the fines by asking, "It's not fair. Where is someone going to find that much money?"
The answer the government tried to provide was the CBP Home app, which offered voluntary departure with a $2,600 flight home paid for by DHS. Leave on your own terms, on our dime, or stay and face financial penalties. That was the deal. O'Toole struck down the second half of it.
Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis had laid out the administration's position back in July. "Our message to illegal aliens is clear: LEAVE NOW. If you don't you will face the consequences, including fines, arrest, and deportation," she said. The ruling in Boston carved out the fines, leaving ICE with one fewer tool in the enforcement kit.
The class action lawsuit argued the fines were imposed without proper administrative procedure. O'Toole agreed. Which means the government can order someone deported, that person can refuse, the government can offer them a free plane ticket, they can refuse that too — and now a judge has ruled the government can't attach a financial consequence to any of it.
The deportation order still stands. Nobody disputes that. The people in this case have been told by the federal government to leave. They haven't. The policy question was simple: what happens to someone who ignores a lawful order? The Trump administration's answer was a daily fine. O'Toole's answer was that the fine hurts too much.
A $2,600 flight home, paid for by taxpayers, declined. A $998-per-day fine, blocked by the courts. The deportation order itself, still on paper.
Paper is where it stays.
