One Colorado immigrant seeking sanctuary in a church has received a notice from Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the intent to fine her almost $5,000 for not voluntarily leaving the United States after a deportation order.
The Trump administration threatened to impose these fines on immigrants who seek sanctuary in locations where ICE does not conduct enforcement operations, such as churches. Although the penalties are not new, imposing the financial penalties has been rare, according to . The notice of the fines comes days after the president delayed until after July 4 immigration raids targeting people with deportation orders.
Ingrid Encalada Latorre, a Peruvian mother of two who has been in sanctuary at churches along the Front Range for several years, received her notice on Monday, the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition said in a Wednesday news release.
Encalada Latorre is in sanctuary at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Boulder, according to Jennifer Piper of the American Friends Service Committee. She first sought sanctuary at the church in December 2017.
Encalada Latorre’s notice, signed June 25, imposed a $4,792 fine, which was “adjusted for inflation,” according to a copy of the document provided by the immigrant rights group. Encalada Latorre was ordered by a judge to depart the United States by May 15, 2016, according to the document.
Another Colorado immigrant is expected to receive a fine of more than $500,000, according to the Washington Post. That person has not been identified.
In an , Encalada Latorre said the letter scared her. She later realized others faced exponentially greater fines, which scared her more, she said. One of her North Carolina friends received a letter threatening a $453,000 fine.
“How are we going to pay that?” Encalada Latorre said Wednesday. “They just want to make a panic.”
In response to questions about the fine, Alethea Smock, an ICE spokeswoman, emailed a list of government regulations that allow the agency to fine immigrants who do not comply with deportation orders.
In a statement from the group on her behalf, the coalition said Encalada Latorre thought her fine was “exceptionally large,” but later found out that it’s one of the smaller fines being imposed.
“This is unconscionable…,” she said in the statement. “We’ve never seen an administration add a fine onto the punishment of deportation, which is already inhumane. After three years of no word from them, they send me this letter with only 30 days to pay and itap a lot of money for me.”
The fine is an intimidation tactic and is unjust, Encalada Latorre said. She expects more to come from the Trump administration.
“They keep closing doors on us, more and more,” she said. “Punishing our children and those that are in cages at the border. Itap something that hurts so deeply to see our community’s children dirty, unfed, caged and without proper care, being denied asylum and sent back.”
Encalada Latorre has been a leader in immigrant rights advocacy, organizing “Know Your Rights” events and educating people on the problems with using false identification, part of the No Mas Chuecos campaign. She was previously in sanctuary in a church in Boulder.
The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition called the fines “clear tactics of retaliation,” designed to limit free speech and religious freedom from faith communities because of immigrants in sanctuary sharing their stories.
The group plans to work with sanctuary movements to appeal the fines “and end government overreach into the lives of people who want nothing more than to live in unity with their families and communities.”
Cassa Niedringhaus of the Daily Camera contributed to this report.
Update 9:25 p.m. July 3, 2019 Due to incorrect information from a source, this story originally misreported where Ingrid Encalada Latorre is taking sanctuary. She has been living in a church in Boulder.