'Our message is clear': Trump admin prepares to fine migrants $18,000

The Trump administration is preparing to fine tens of thousands of migrants for the cost of arresting, detaining and deporting them, under a new policy that will also make it harder for them to return legally to the United States.

Department of Homeland Security officials acknowledge they will likely never collect most of the new $18,000 fines to be levied on each of more than 23,000 people annually. Among the reasons: The annual per capita household income in Mexico is only $5,000, according to the London-based analysis and data firm ISI Markets.

But White House officials have previously said such fines are intended to encourage people to voluntarily self-deport.