Retroactive Deportation Fines Spark Debate

A 1996 federal law that sat unused for decades is now generating fines totaling more than thirty-six billion dollars.
The Trump administration confirmed this past week that the Department of Homeland Security has issued over 65,000 civil fines against illegal immigrants who failed to leave the United States after a final deportation order. The penalty is $998 per day under a 1996 statute, applied retroactively for up to five years, with a maximum exposure of $1.82 million per case. A Southern California woman received a notice on Friday for the full $1.82 million amount. She entered the country at age 13 from Mexico, received a voluntary departure order in 2003 that she says she did not learn about for ten years, and has been checking in annually with ICE since 2013 as her case moves through a backlogged green card process. Her attorney says her 2003 order capped fines at $5,000. DHS says a pending application does not equal legal status.
The administration argues the policy is straightforward. Final deportation orders are not suggestions. The law has been on the books for nearly thirty years. Self-deportation through the CBP Home app is offered with a free flight and a $2,600 stipend. Critics argue the retroactive application crushes people who have been actively cooperating with the government and whose U.S.-citizen children would be uprooted.
Both sides of this debate are pulling from real American convictions. A nation cannot exist without borders. A people cannot remain a people without justice tempered by mercy. Scripture holds both truths together without flinching.
“The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.” — Exodus 12:49
Laws are not the enemy of compassion. Compassion without law becomes chaos. Law without compassion becomes cruelty. The Bible commands both, and a Christian nation is supposed to wrestle with both in the same breath.
Pray for the families caught in the middle. Pray for the leaders writing the rules. Pray for the country to find the narrow road.
What do you think — is this enforcement the right path, or is the retroactive five-year window too far? #trump #america #justice