When Daniel arrived in the U.S. about two decades ago, he came on a legal tourist visa.
asserted
he → arrive → visa
Once here, having fled his home country in South America, he filed an asylum application.
asserted
he → flee → application
A judge, however, eventually denied his claim.
uncertain
judge → deny → claim
Then 11 years ago, he married his partner, a U.S. citizen.
asserted
he → marry → partner
Together, they had two children, who are also citizens.
asserted
who → have → children
The couple filed a petition to grant him legal status through their marriage, but then Daniel was issued a deportation order, which presented a barrier in his case.
asserted
which → file → case
It’s hard to comprehend how it can be so difficult to legally stay with one’s family, but Daniel, for whom The Intercept is using a pseudonym, would soon face an even more mystifying hurdle: He recently received a letter from the government saying he owes about $368,000, according to his attorney, who recounted his tale.
uncertain
who → ’ → tale
Last year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order using a never-before-touched law to levy fines on an immigrant for each day he “willfully fails or refuses” to leave after receiving a removal order.
asserted
he → issue → order
Trump’s order also increased the fine from $500 to $998 per day to, supposedly, update it for inflation.
asserted
order → increase → inflation
The Trump administration quickly started issuing fines as high as $1.8 million — the maximum penalty for the maximum five-year period, although unpaid fines can also accrue interest — to immigrants last year.
asserted
fines → issue → immigrants
As of July, more than 100,000 immigrants had received notices of fines, totaling more than $84 million, according to the government.
uncertain
immigrants → receive → government
The administration says it will forgive the debts if immigrants leave the country.
asserted
immigrants → say → country
Daniel is eager to pay as much as he can, fearing the financial and immigration repercussions of not responding to the notice he received.
asserted
he → pay → notice
But there’s a big problem: He can’t.
asserted
He → ’ → ?
And it’s not for a lack of funds.
asserted
it → ’ → funds
Instead, Daniel simply doesn’t have the information necessary to make a payment; the government never provided it to him.
asserted
government → have → him
The letter he received informing him of the fines he owed had a blank field where there should have been an identification number for the online payments system.
asserted
he → receive → system
(The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.)
asserted
Department → respond → comment
Daniel and his wife tried putting his Social Security number and the alien number that tracks him in the immigration system into the website.
asserted
that → try → website
Neither worked.
asserted
Neither → work → ?
His wife even tried calling to find out how to pay, only to sit on hold for over an hour and a half and then have the call disconnect.
asserted
call → try → hour
“It’s ‘Hurry and pay — oh, by the way, we’re not going to give you any appropriate information,’” said Melanie Zamenhof, a senior attorney on the New York Legal Response Team at Neighbors Link, who has been helping Daniel.
asserted
who → ’ → Daniel
Zamenhof hasn’t had a single immigrant client who was able to successfully pay the fine the administration levied against them.
asserted
administration → have → them
No Way to Pay
The letters immigrants are receiving about the fines are typically brief.
asserted
immigrants → pay → fines
They include the date an immigrant was issued an order of removal and a checked box saying, “You willfully failed or refused to depart from the United States pursuant to the order.”
asserted
You → include → order
Based on that, the letters say, “you are subject to a civil monetary penalty.”
asserted
you → base → penalty
The letters don’t explain how the figures have been calculated, whether interest has been applied and at what rate, or even when the fines started being tolled or when they might stop.
uncertain
they → explain → ?
The letters say recipients only have 15 business days after issuance to formally contest the fines, though many received them after the period had expired.
asserted
period → say → them
“Like any bill that anyone receives,” Zamenhof said, “you always want an explanation of benefits, some breakdown.”
asserted
you → receive → benefits
This year, the helpline at Neighbors Link started getting calls from about a dozen immigrants saying they’d received letters.
asserted
they → get → letters
The callers asked the attorneys where they should go to pay what they were told they owe.
asserted
they → ask → what
Where do you pay it?’” Zamenhof said.
asserted
Zamenhof → pay → it
Finding a working website to pay the fines leads to dead ends.
asserted
Finding → find → ends
Typically, immigration-related fees are paid to other agencies, such as the Department of Justice or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, but none of those avenues work for the failure-to-leave fines.
asserted
none → relate → fines
Instead, a sheet included with the government letters offers “payment options.”
asserted
sheet → include → options
Those include a QR code that points to pay.gov and instructions to search for “DHS Civil Penalty and Fee” in a box on the website.
asserted
that → include → website
The pay.gov website is frequently down, Zamenhof said, and when it’s working, the option to pay the civil penalty is sometimes not on the dropdown menu.
asserted
option → say → menu
The government also no longer accepts cashier’s checks or money orders, Zamenhof said, which means the fines can only be paid with a debit or credit card — a hurdle on its own for any immigrant who can’t qualify for a U.S. bank account yet.
asserted
who → accept → account
Meanwhile, to get through the payment system an immigrant must have a payor number; the information sheet says they need a “penalty tracking number.”
asserted
they → get → number
That’s supposed to be on the letters they receive about their fines, but Zamenhof has seen multiple letters like Daniel’s, where the field for the number is left blank.
asserted
field → suppose → number
…and 62 more, not listed.
The Aporia
