Hector “Alessandro” Negrete obtained the cellphone name 9 months after he moved to Guadalajara, Mexico, hoping for a contemporary begin with out the onerous weight of uncertainty and worry he carried in Los Angeles.
“Hey, you have something that says, ‘invoice to border patrol,’” Negrete recollects his former roommate telling him round 8 p.m. that night time as he was meal-prepping after the fitness center. He consulted together with his lawyer, and his roommate tore the envelope open.
“Vecino, what is this?” his roommate requested, calling him “neighbor” in Spanish.
Inside was a seven-digit quantity. He owed the Department of Homeland Security $1.8 million, the paper learn.
“What the hell?” Negrete mentioned he first thought. Perplexed, he initially believed the letter was fraudulent. He obtained on a FaceTime name together with his roommate to course of the shock.
His second thought: “Oh my God, I’m gonna lose my money. I’m gonna lose my job.”
The letter despatched to his outdated handle the place he nonetheless information US taxes mentioned he should pay a $1,820,352 civil penalty for his failure to adjust to a 2009 deportation order, in line with a replica of the discover reviewed by CNN.
He was solely 3 months outdated when he and his dad and mom fled violence in their Mexican hometown and immigrated to California.
Negrete remained in the US for over 15 years after receiving a remaining deportation order, repeatedly making an attempt to achieve authorized standing however dealing with obstacles, he mentioned.
But after President Donald Trump returned to workplace in 2025, 43-year-old Negrete’s immigration enforcement fears and declining nonprofit work made his life in Los Angeles more and more untenable.
“Being in a cage in LA … is not the dream that I had for my future,” Negrete instructed CNN.
Early final yr, Negrete determined to depart. He crossed into Tijuana, Mexico, by automotive in September 2025, earlier than flying to Guadalajara two days later, Negrete mentioned.
“I really genuinely felt that once I left the US, I would be done,” Negrete mentioned.
Negrete’s scenario isn’t distinctive. He is one in all greater than 100,000 undocumented immigrants who’ve obtained fines from DHS from the starting of the second Trump administration to mid-July – amounting to greater than $84 billion, DHS instructed CNN Monday. DHS has collected greater than $1.2 million as of July 16, the company mentioned.
DHS warns that those that have obtained a remaining order of elimination could also be fined $998 per day in the event that they don’t self-deport, however the fines will be forgiven in the event that they use the CBP Home app to depart, in line with a July news release from the company. Those who do will obtain a free flight residence and an “exit bonus of $2,600.”
“Our message is clear: illegal aliens in the country unlawfully should leave now or face consequences—including financial penalties,” DHS mentioned in a press release to CNN.
Charles Moore, a senior lawyer at authorized nonprofit Public Justice – which is suing the federal authorities for the immigration fines – mentioned DHS is imposing penalties on individuals who could also be complying with immigration necessities or pursuing lawful routes to stay in the nation.
“This administration is weaponizing these fines to terrorize families and to push immigrants out of the country,” Moore mentioned.
The federal authorities has argued the positive program was licensed by statutes handed by Congress almost 30 years in the past and is lawful.
“Whether an alien remains in country to pursue other forms of immigration relief is not a defense under the statutes,” the authorities mentioned in a January court docket submitting.
DHS referred CNN to the Treasury and Justice departments when reached for extra data.
Negrete and his attorneys twice offered proof that he was living in Mexico, however officers demanded extra documentation, he and his lawyer Marissa Montes mentioned. Now Negrete – who works remotely for a US-based worldwide nonprofit preventing ageism – is fearful the authorities may pursue his US revenue and is contemplating becoming a member of litigation difficult the fines.
Negrete, born in Mexico in 1982, settled together with his household first in South Los Angeles and later grew up totally on Los Angeles’ east facet in Boyle Heights.
Negrete spent a month in Mexico when he was round 6 years outdated. During his return journey again to the US, a girl employed to deliver him throughout the border held him for greater than every week and demanded extra cash from his household, Negrete mentioned. He described being tied in a car and confined at her residence.
“By the second night, I stopped crying as much because, at that young age, I guess I was just like, well, this is my new life,” he mentioned.
Negrete didn’t uncover his immigration standing till after graduating from highschool, he recounted.
Negrete mentioned he had been accepted to the University of California, Berkeley, however realized he didn’t have a Social Security quantity whereas making use of for scholarships.
“I remember asking my mom, like, ‘Oh, where’s my Social?’ … It was just a huge shock of confusion.”
Unable to afford school, he started working to assist help his mom.
“I worked hard my entire life up to that point, and I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t go to college,” Negrete mentioned. “I didn’t know how to feel angry because I didn’t know who to be angry at.”
Negrete says he repeatedly tried to acquire authorized standing: First by means of his father, who grew to become a lawful everlasting resident after marrying a US citizen. But that effort failed as a result of his father had by chance omitted him from an immigration type, he mentioned. A DUI conviction in 2008 had prevented Negrete from initially making use of for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012, although his report was ultimately expunged, Montes instructed CNN. He then began the DACA software course of earlier than new functions had been halted by the Trump administration in 2017, he mentioned.
At the time, undocumented standing was mentioned by means of “shame or secrecy,” he recalled.
Negrete later grew to become open about his standing and obtained concerned in immigrant rights and social justice work. He was a neighborhood council member and described himself as a “Dreamer,” though Negrete by no means obtained DACA standing.
“Learning to tell my story from a place of resilience over fear was something that I needed to practice,” Negrete mentioned.
Negrete constructed a profession in nonprofits and philanthropy and have become an overtly undocumented and queer group advocate.
Negrete first thought of leaving the US throughout Trump’s first time period however mentioned he stayed after his mom was recognized with most cancers in late 2017.
Then got here the second Trump administration. Negrete had misplaced work and tried drawing on financial savings earlier than concluding that remaining in the US was not financially sustainable. He didn’t wish to spend 4 years hiding or proceed living with uncertainty over detention and elimination, he defined.
“It wasn’t even fear of being deported. It was more the in-between space,” he mentioned.
He had already determined to depart the US when immigration operations and protests in Los Angeles intensified in June 2025. He spent a lot of that summer time indoors, too scared to go to the fitness center or have interaction in his normal actions. Then, he started saying his goodbyes.
“I didn’t want to live in a cage,” he mentioned.
Before leaving, Negrete performed in a remaining softball event in Sacramento. The week earlier than, he held a yard sale and going-away celebration the place buddies purchased most of his belongings – like his scary film memorabilia assortment – as keepsakes.
He gave friends playing cards with the message: “A new home, different door, same key.”
Months earlier than leaving, Negrete shared the identical sentiment in a “love letter” on Substack.
“After over 40 years of living in Los Angeles, a city that shaped me, strengthened me, and loved me back, I’ve decided to repatriate politically back to Mexico,” he wrote. “But let me be absolutely clear: this is not goodbye to LA, but rather a rebirth for me, and hopefully for some of you too.”
Negrete stuffed one giant suitcase with coats {and professional} garments, together with a smaller bag together with his canine’s issues. He mentioned he left Los Angeles on September 4, 2025, and drove about three and a half hours on Interstate 5. Accompanied by buddies and his canine, Negrete crossed the border into Tijuana, he remembered.
On the manner, Negrete and his buddies stopped at a seaside for a non secular ceremony. They spent the remainder of the drive speaking, and one in all his buddies pleaded, “It’s not too late; we can turn back,” Negrete recounted.
Negrete mentioned he tried to “keep it together,” however he broke down that night time in Tijuana when his buddies shared a heartfelt video they made him – whom they lovingly known as “Ale.” A photograph slideshow performed and buddies shared farewell messages on digital camera saying they’d miss “the glue to our group.”
The subsequent day, he took a one-way flight to Guadalajara, Negrete mentioned, feeling anxious as he traveled farther into Mexico.
“What am I doing leaving this very comfortable, uncomfortable place?” Negrete remembered pondering. His buddies dropped him off “like I was in college.”
Negrete described the transfer as emotionally painful but finally empowering.
But the tradition shock kicked in swiftly: Although he was amongst the strongest Spanish audio system in his US social circle, he initially struggled with Guadalajara’s native dialect, he joked. Finding housing proved to be one other hurdle. It took him round 4 months to acquire Mexican identification and a tax quantity.
“I really had to navigate everything from being a tourist,” Negrete mentioned.
By January, his life had settled into a well-recognized rhythm: During the week, Negrete labored, went to the fitness center and walked his canine. He spent weekends climbing, visiting canine parks and exploring Guadalajara with a brand new group of buddies.
He described having lingering anxiousness round legislation enforcement: Seeing police initially triggered fear conditioned by his years living with out standing in the US, although later he had begun to really feel safer in Mexico.
“I’m like, wait, I’m fine. I’m good,” he mentioned.
But again in Los Angeles, the life he thought he had escaped almost a yr prior got here again to hang-out him: the huge positive.
Dated May 5, the positive cites the Immigration and Nationality Act Section 274D(a), which authorizes DHS to impose financial penalties on any noncitizen who “willfully fails or refuses to depart from the United States” after a remaining order of elimination.
The discover says “If immigration officials can verify your departure, and if you are otherwise eligible for the debt rescission program, the United States will rescind the debt listed above.”
Negrete’s attorneys responded twice, however DHS dismissed their enchantment and requested extra proof, in line with his lawyer and a discover reviewed by CNN.
“There was ample proof that Alessandro self-deported,” Montes mentioned. “We provided that proof to the government, and even then, they said it wasn’t sufficient.”
Negrete mentioned his attorneys had instantly responded to the preliminary letter, barely assembly the 15-day deadline for an enchantment.
The enchantment was filed on May 20 and the authorities denied it on June 2, his attorneys mentioned. A day later, the authorities despatched one other bill with the penalty and gave Negrete 10 days to enchantment by means of e mail. Negrete responded on June 12, offering extra proof he lives in Mexico, to which DHS responded that he didn’t submit sufficient proof.
The incontrovertible fact that Negrete drove into Tijuana slightly than flying straight from Los Angeles sophisticated documentation of his exit, Montes mentioned. His attorneys say they submitted proof that he left the nation: signed declarations from a good friend and reporter, his lease settlement in Guadalajara, home airplane tickets inside Mexico, a information article documenting his transfer and his Mexican ID paperwork.
Now, his authorized staff is getting ready one other submission that can embrace a passport stamp from one other nation.
The division additionally requested him to report his departure by means of the CBP Home app, however Negrete mentioned he has not completed so but as a result of he’s involved about how that data may be used.
DHS had mentioned in the July launch that by utilizing the CBP Home app, “illegal aliens earn forgiveness for any civil fines or penalties for failing to depart the country.”
In July, two US senators despatched a letter to the administration demanding the fines be halted, saying it has “abused” its authorities beneath the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act “in an attempt to frighten immigrants—many of whom are seeking a green card or who have maintained lawful presence in the United States for decades.”
A lawsuit difficult the DHS fines was filed final November in Massachusetts on behalf of two ladies, continuing beneath the pseudonyms Maria L. and Nancy M.
The lead lawyer, Moore, mentioned regulatory adjustments adopted in June 2025 eliminated a number of protections for positive recipients, which DHS said would “make it easier and more efficient to fine illegal aliens.”
Recipients beforehand had 30 days to reply and will request an extension; now they’ve 15 enterprise days, the rule says.
Immigrants additionally beforehand obtained a “notice of intention to fine,” however the present discover is described as a “notice of violation and order.” Extensions and in-person interviews are unavailable, and the appeals course of for the penalties has been transferred from an appeals board to DHS, in line with the rule. The revisions additionally eliminated the means to ask DHS to rescind a penalty after a remaining resolution is made, so an individual who later turns into a lawful everlasting resident could stay liable for the positive, Moore mentioned. DHS, nevertheless, can reopen selections at any time to rethink and cut back or rescind fines, in line with the rule.
The notices don’t adequately clarify what conduct allegedly violated the legislation and the dimension of the fines violates the Constitution’s prohibition in opposition to extreme fines, the lawsuit in Massachusetts alleges.
Moore argues the fines are getting used to financially and psychologically stress immigrants to depart the US and the authorities isn’t adequately contemplating whether or not an individual “willfully” did not depart, as required by legislation.
The federal authorities has famous officers nonetheless make a person dedication of whether or not an individual’s conduct was willful or voluntary, in line with the January court docket submitting.
CNN has reached out to the Department of Justice for remark.
A positive of $1.8 million seems to be amongst the commonest penalty quantities, representing $998 a day over 5 years, Moore mentioned.
About 70% of surveyed attorneys of $998-per-day positive recipients say their shoppers had obtained or had been pursuing lawful standing, in line with an August report from the New York University School of Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic. Like Negrete, over half had resided in the US for not less than a decade after receiving their remaining deportation order.
Moore mentioned the court docket held a listening to July 22 on the plaintiffs’ request for a keep, which might forestall the authorities from imposing or imposing the fines in the challenged method whereas litigation proceeds. The decide is now contemplating that movement, and a ruling is predicted in the coming weeks or months, Moore mentioned.
Because Negrete works for US shoppers and pays US taxes utilizing an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, he worries authorities may garnish his wages or take different assortment measures, he mentioned.
The authorities has filed over 50 lawsuits in opposition to positive recipients as of May, in line with the NYU report. If profitable, they might then garnish their wages, place a lien on their property or freeze funds in their financial institution accounts, the report states. By legislation and regulation, the federal authorities may make the most of administrative wage garnishment and not using a ruling in a collections go well with, the report states.
The fines primarily have an effect on working-class individuals who may by no means afford to pay the positive, the report mentioned.
Montes mentioned it stays unclear how the authorities intends to gather the penalties or whether or not it may garnish Negrete’s US-sourced wages.
Negrete is now saving extra money and paying his hire in advance to make sure he has housing if the dispute interrupts his revenue.
He doesn’t plan to maneuver again to the US, however he does hope to ultimately go to family members after a 10-year reentry bar expires, he mentioned. His mom lives in Denver, and his father and most of his siblings are in Pomona, California. Because his dad and mom have authorized standing and his siblings are US residents, they’ll go to him as an alternative.
Though he doesn’t remorse leaving, Negrete mentioned getting authorized recommendation may need modified how he approached his departure. After transferring, Negrete’s attorneys instructed him his childhood trafficking expertise may need offered a path to lawful standing.
“I still believe that I made the best decision that I thought for myself in the moment,” Negrete mentioned.
He mentioned transferring to Mexico has allowed him to journey and take into account shopping for property – prospects he couldn’t think about in Los Angeles.
But Negrete and Montes strongly urge undocumented folks contemplating departure from the US to seek the advice of an immigration lawyer first, examine all potential aid and perceive the penalties of leaving.
His recommendation to others: “Talk to a lawyer…Definitely don’t do it the way that I did.”
There are numerous issues Negrete says he misses about LA: his “chosen family,” enjoying together with his softball staff, working with the Boyle Heights Bridge Runners on Wednesdays and downtown nightlife on weekends.
“But I don’t miss living under persecution,” he mentioned.