I remember a precedent where a legal immigrant borrowed lots of money from people in his home country to set up a business here (convenience store IIRC). He did well, and was about to fly back with the cash to pay everyone back when he was nailed under this law. I can't remember the amount, but they took tens of thousands of dollars.
The seizure was overturned on the grounds of "cruel and unusual punishment," in that losing tens of thousands of dollars because you didn't know you had to do some paperwork was out of proportion with the offense.
I tend to agree with that, but I do think that ignorance of the law ought to carry a hefty fine. Even ignorance of the language. I truly admire the work ethic of these immigrants, but they live in their own shadow world which makes it dangerous for them and everyone else here.
You are comparing a case of someone here legally -- and one supposes, paying his taxes each year -- to one here working illegally ?
That's apples and oranges.
We do not know whether this illegal had taxes -- Federal income taxes, SS, Medicare, State and local taxes, etc. -- withheld or not. If not, then failure to file, accumulated penalties and interest, and possible imprisonment (11 years of non-filing !) were due. The $49K "penalty" might mean he got off easy. Why should an illegal pay fewer penalties than you or I would ?
This article is a typical leftist it piece -- it doesn't include enough information to judge whether the $49K penalty was fair or not.