The US Border Patrol warned Friday it will be imposing a $5,000 “apprehension fee” to all illegal migrants caught in the country.
The penalty was approved under President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” and is in addition to other fines already levied against some illegal immigrants taken into custody, Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks said in a Friday statement on X.
Banks said that any migrants “age 14 or older” who entered or were brought into the US “without inspection” will be slapped with a $5,000 fee.
“This message applies to all illegal aliens—regardless of where they entered, how long they’ve been in the U.S., their current location, or any ongoing immigration proceedings,” Banks said.
The new “apprehension fee” was included in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was approved by Congress in early July.
The act allowed for upwards of $170 billion to be put towards immigration enforcement over the next four years.
Since Trump entered office for his second term, illegal border crossings have plummeted to their lowest level since 1970.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement have been conducting raids across the country, including in New York City and Los Angeles.
Earlier this year, officials said that they would be charging migrants with deportation orders who refuse to leave with a $1,000 fine for each day they overstayed.
In late August, the Wall Street Journal reported that around 21,500 fines had been issued — totaling at an estimated $6.1 billion.
Officials have also offered migrants a $1,000 reward to leave the US on their own accord, or to “self-deport,” through the Customs and Border Protection Home app.
The Department of Homeland Security claimed that roughly 1.9 million migrants have self-deported since Inauguration Day.
Read the full article here
