As the green leaves of summer give way to the brownish hues of autumn in the land of milk and honey, the much-vaunted immigration enforcement machinery of America’s Grand Old Party has finally found its footing, bringing to the fore anecdotal accounts of people, legal residents or not, being ensnared in the government’s blitzkrieg-like campaign.

Some of these stories involve unconventional, yet surprisingly functional, enforcement activities not seen in decades.

A few months ago, for instance, a Florida woman received a citation to pay a mind-boggling fine of $1.82 million for committing an extremely common infraction: failure to leave the country after being ordered removed.

The 41-year-old woman, a mother of three, was told to pay a fine of $500 per day beginning on the date of a deportation order issued against her way back in April 2005, gradually ratcheting up to the astronomical sum of $1.82 million after 20 years. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, the fine was issued pursuant to a 1952 law, Section 274D(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

Although the woman filed a motion to reopen her removal case last year under the Biden-era policy of prosecutorial discretion, the same is now in limbo, according to her lawyer, due to the absence of a similar program under the current administration.

Another woefully unwonted story involves a legal permanent resident in Chicago being fined $130 for a shockingly quotidian violation: failing to carry a green card in person.

Per news reports, the green card holder, a 60-year-old Hispanic male, was recently subjected to a random street inspection by ICE agents. When asked about his immigration status, the man responded that he had a green card at home. His explanation notwithstanding, the man was briefly detained and driven around inside the agents’ vehicle before being cited and fined for committing a misdemeanor offense, i.e., failure to carry proof of registration in person.

According to an immigration lawyer interviewed for the news article, this was the second case he had heard of in the past thirty days. And yet, while the arrest seemed out of place, there is actually a law that has been in the books since the 1940s.

Indeed, Section 264 of the INA requires every non-US citizen aged 18 and older to carry proof of registration at all times, which in the case of a US permanent resident is the green card.

Originally, the fine was capped at $100, along with a maximum jail time of 30 days. Recently, however, the US government increased the maximum fine to $5,000 pursuant to the current sentencing guidelines.

(Coincidentally, this type of scenario was recently tackled in this corner’s September piece titled “Minor violations with major implications,” posted prior to the incidents in question.)

Lastly, a male green card holder returning from a trip abroad was recently issued a Notice to Appear for removal upon arriving at the JFK International Airport in New York, one of the laxest, enforcement-wise, screening stations in the country.

His offense? He allegedly overstayed his visa waiver entry prior to marrying his US citizen spouse through which he obtained his green card. Perplexingly, unless there is evidence of fraud, this type of violation is usually cured by a marriage to a US citizen.

What gives?