I had no idea that Bill Clinton signed into law a bill that imposed a large fine for aliens who defy a deportation order. 

Apparently, neither did many other people because the law had just been sitting there unused over the past four years. 

I believe this will encourage self-deportation. What do you think?https://t.co/gSC1FSbjay

— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) April 8, 2025

There was a time when the differences between Republicans and Democrats on border issues were modest. Everybody agreed that programs that allowed foreign workers to enter the United States under legal programs were cool, and everybody agreed that the border should be secure. 

There were disagreements, of course, and slightly different approaches on how to enforce the laws and how much effort should be placed on enforcement, but the differences were between the 40-yard lines on the field. 

Guess Joe was sleeping

“We simply cannot allow people to pour into the U.S., undetected, undocumented, unchecked and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently, lawfully to become immigrants in this country” Obama pic.twitter.com/3LfjH6LOva

— 🦅 Eagle Wings 🦅 (@CRRJA5) April 5, 2021

Obama deported millions of illegal aliens, and even when he talked about a "path to citizenship," he outlined a series of steps that required fines, payment of back taxes, English proficiency, and longer waiting periods before citizenship would be considered. 

Biden? He opened the borders, let 12 million people in essentially unvetted, and handed them Social Security cards, free food and lodging, and some nice high-tech phones. He flew them around the country and allowed them to fly without ID you and I need to board a plane. 

So here we are. With somewhere between 20-30 million illegal aliens in America and a mandate to deport them given to President Trump. 

Running people down to deport them is hard, expensive work, and most of these illegal aliens are thankfully not running into law enforcement all the time or giving themselves up, so the use of fines is a way to encourage people to leave on their own. Instead of having to track people down and deport them, the idea is to get people to deport themselves voluntarily. 

Anybody who has accumulated property would presumably prefer to go home with it or the cash they could get for selling it to having the government seize it. 

Large fines won't deter violent criminals, who already face serious charges should they be caught (except in places like Boston, where rapists and sex offenders are let out the back door to keep them from being deported), but the average illegal alien who came here for economic reasons would do well to leave before being ordered to. 

Self-deportation is a much cheaper and more humane way to deal with the illegal immigration problem. There are plenty of decent illegal migrants who are just looking for a better life and who would probably be welcomed should they have applied lawfully. They should not be here, and it should be expected that they obey the law, but finding a less harsh way to accomplish that goal just makes sense from a fiscal and humanitarian perspective. 

No doubt Trump opponents will scream to high heaven because that is what they always do, but of all the mandates Trump has from the election, the least ambiguous one is to deport illegal aliens. A majority of Americans don't just want the border closed but for illegal immigrants to leave. 

These fines seem to be a way to do that safely, humanely, and most importantly voluntarily. Leave, and you can avoid the fines. Simple.