Leaving the U.S. triggers a $1.8M DHS fine, fueling a legal challenge to immigration penalties

Hector Negrete, an openly undocumented nonprofit worker who left Los Angeles for Mexico after a final deportation order, was hit with a $1.8 million DHS civil penalty for failing to depart. The program has fined more than 100,000 people since early in the second Trump term and seeks to collect roughly $84 billion, though DHS has only collected about $1.2 million as of mid-July. Negrete is appealing and other plaintiffs are suing, arguing the penalties are unlawful or excessively punitive, while he worries about potential wage garnishment.