Lydia Wheeler

They had to open lines of credit that had gone dormant.

One company I chatted with, the business owner said, I had to go back to the bank and not only reinstate my line of credit, but then ask for an increase in the amount that I was given because I have to pay these tariffs upfront when my product comes into port.

And I just didn't have the cash flow to do that.

There are still companies that are like, even though I have this order that says the government owes me money and, you know, Judge Eaton told customs to start the refund process, like, even though we have that, even once I get my money back, like, it's still going to take me some years to get back into the black.

There are people who are subject to removal at any time if they are apprehended and they go through the proper procedures.

But they have...

in their minds, made a permanent home here and have established roots.

And that raises a humanitarian problem.

These civil probes are proceeding under the umbrella of an anti-fraud law called the False Claims Act, which...

has traditionally been used to go after contractors who basically like bill the government for work that was never performed or inflate the cost of services rendered.

And, you know, attorneys I spoke with said that this is a novel use of the law and that the False Claims Act has never been used in this way to advance a president's political agenda.

The stakes are really high for businesses.

So if a civil lawsuit is brought, the company could be on the hook to not only pay back what they made from the government in this contract, but three times the amount.

So millions of dollars we're talking about here.