The Trump administration filed a lawsuit seeking nearly $1 million in fines from a woman who they said stayed in the country for more than three years after she was given an order to deport.
According to the lawsuit, Marta Alicia Ramirez Veliz did not leave the country after an appeals board ruled against her in 2022. The U.S. government served a formal Notice of Intention to Fine Veliz on April 29, 2025. The government is now pursuing $941,114 in fines, plus interest, according to the lawsuit.
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She owes $988 for each day she remained in the country after Sept. 23, 2022. The lawsuit cites Title 8, a statute enacted in 1996, which imposes a $500 daily fine for failing to self-deport. The lawsuit says the government is seeking $988 per day to account for inflation.
As of June 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had issued notices to fine more than 9,000 people who remained in the country without legal authorization. Those fines, according to DHS, totaled nearly $3 billion.
