A lawsuit was filed Thursday against the federal government on behalf of immigrants facing fines reaching up to $1.8 million each for staying in the U.S. illegally.
Daily penalties of $998 have been levied against more than 21,500 immigrants, whose lawyers say they were attempting to comply with federal immigration laws. The fines were implemented to encourage immigrants to leave the country.
The lawyers said their clients were slapped with "ruinous civil fines" that are "grossly disproportionate to the gravity" of any immigration violations, arguing that the fines are unconstitutional.
The lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts on behalf of two immigrant women, seeks class-action status to represent people facing fines that lawyers say have totaled more than $6 billion under President Donald Trump's mass deportation policies.
"The people we serve are doing exactly what the law requires — pursuing legal relief through immigration courts and immigration agencies," Hasan Shafiqullah, a supervising attorney with The Legal Aid Society, one of the groups representing the immigrants, said in a news release. "In return, the government is threatening to seize their wages, cars, even their homes."
One of the two plaintiffs, a woman residing in Florida who was identified in the complaint only as Nancy M. to protect her from retribution, was instructed to leave the U.S., but also had an "order of supervision" and was meeting annually with immigration officials as she attempted to become a legal permanent resident.
Despite this, she received a bill earlier this year for about $1.8 million, which appeared to be reached through daily $998 fines for the past five years.
The Department of Homeland Security purported that the lawsuit was "just another attempt to nullify federal immigration law through activist litigation."
"The plaintiffs in this case are here illegally and are suing so they can remain in the country illegally without any consequence or penalty – contrary to decades-old federal law," DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Shortly after Trump returned to the White House in January, his administration revealed a series of moves to encourage immigrants to leave the country, including DHS' announcement in February that illegal immigrants could face "significant financial penalty" if they choose not to self-deport.
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Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem "have a clear message for those in our country illegally: leave now," McLaughlin said in February.
"The Trump administration will enforce all our immigration laws — we will not pick and choose which laws we will enforce," she added at the time.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
