Hector “Alessandro” Negrete received a $1.8 million civil penalty from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) nine months after moving to Guadalajara, Mexico, following more than 15 years in the United States under a final deportation order.
According to a notice reviewed by CNN, Negrete was ordered to pay $1,820,352 for failing to comply with a 2009 deportation order. He said he initially believed the letter was fraudulent when his former roommate told him about it.
Negrete was only three months old when he and his parents fled violence in their hometown in Mexico and moved to California. He remained in the U.S. for more than 15 years after receiving a final deportation order and said he repeatedly tried to obtain legal status but encountered barriers.
After Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025, Negrete said concerns about immigration enforcement, combined with declining work in the nonprofit sector, made his life in Los Angeles increasingly difficult.
“Being in a cage in LA … is not the dream that I had for my future,” Negrete told CNN.
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Early last year, he decided to leave the United States. He crossed into Tijuana, Mexico, by car in September 2025 and flew to Guadalajara two days later.
“I really genuinely felt that once I left the US, I would be done,” Negrete said.
His case is part of a broader DHS enforcement effort. According to the agency, more than 100,000 undocumented immigrants received fines from DHS between the beginning of the second Trump administration and mid-July, totaling more than $84 billion. DHS said it had collected more than $1.2 million as of July 16.
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DHS warns that people with final removal orders may face fines of $998 per day if they do not self-deport. According to the agency, those fines can be forgiven if individuals use the CBP Home app to leave the country. Those who do may receive a free flight home and an “exit bonus” of $2,600.
