Hector Negrete, a 43-year-old man who voluntarily relocated to Guadalajara, Mexico, received a notice from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security demanding a civil penalty of $1,820,352 for failing to comply with a 2009 deportation order. ^[1] A federal lawsuit filed in November 2024 by a Berkeley County high school sophomore challenging South Carolina's budget clause barring transgender students from using multi-stalled bathrooms not aligning with their sex at birth was dismissed after the student moved to another state. ^[2] Legal advocacy groups, including Public Justice, are suing the federal government over the practice, arguing that DHS is weaponizing legacy statutory fines to intimidate immigrant families. ^[3] Negrete was brought to the United States as an infant, struggled for years to acquire legal status, and left Los Angeles in September 2025 before receiving the fine notice nine months later. ^[4] The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued monetary fines to more than 100,000 undocumented immigrants under reinforced enforcement directives, with total penalties exceeding $84 billion. ^[5] Attorneys representing the student cited bullying and transphobic harassment as reasons for the student's withdrawal from in-person classes and subsequent move to another state. ^[6] On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that laws barring transgender athletes from playing on sports teams of their choice in Idaho and West Virginia could stand, which also upheld South Carolina's similar 'Save Women Sports Act' signed in 2022. ^[7] The budget clause in question risked causing schools that permitted transgender students to use such bathrooms to lose a quarter of their state funding. ^[8]