Day 1 of the current Trump Administration: An Executive Order directed DHS to use immigration fines to pressure non-citizens to self-deport
The Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) allows for fines up to $998/day to be imposed on any person with a final order of removal who “willfully fails or refuses” to leave the country. It also allows for a separate fine, imposed as a flat, one-time $3,000 fine, for any individual who fails to voluntarily depart following a voluntary departure of the law. Critically, many individuals remain present in the country following removal or voluntary departure orders under circumstances that would not amount to willful or voluntary violations of the law. Since the passage of these laws in 1996, these fines had never been imposed until the first Trump administration.
Now, tens of thousands of people all over the country have received a fine under these laws, often exceeding $1.82 million dollars.
DHS has expressed its desire to scale its assessment of these penalties. To do this, it issued an Interim Final Rule (“IFR”) in late June 2025, which removed procedural protections for fines recipients, which the government described as obstacles that could “hinder” its ability to impose as many of these fines, as fast as possible. The IFR took effect June 27, 2025. Imposition and Collection of Civil Penalties for Certain Immigration-Related Violations, 90 Fed. Reg. 27439.
The Trump Administration removed protections for those subject to these fines and limited people’s ability to fight back
The IFR stripped away the minimal procedures previously in place, replacing them with new “streamlined” processes. For example, it removed the ability to appeal, and it halved the amount of time people have to respond. When the IFR was enacted in late June, the agencies had assessed approximately 10,000 of these penalties. Under the IFR, the government assessed roughly 110,000 penalties. That means that over 120,000 individuals have received one of these fines.
Public Justice and its partners are fighting back
Upon learning about these fines, we developed a practice advisory and model briefs to help attorneys and pro se individuals respond to these fines and created an online hub for people to access these resources. We then filed a putative class action lawsuit in federal court, arguing that both the imposition of the fines and the promulgation of the IFR violate the Administrative Procedure Act and several constitutional rights. We represent two immigrant women who have pending petitions for relief that would allow them to become lawful permanent residents (i.e., green card holders), but who were still incorrectly fined for willful failure to depart. Both of our plaintiffs had to proceed under pseudonyms for fear of retaliation, and both of our plaintiffs cannot afford to pay the hundreds of thousands of dollars that DHS says they owe. One of those women, Nancy M., received her green card while the case has been pending, but her fine remains. We also represent the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (“ILRC”), an organization that serves immigrants and immigration attorneys around the country, in challenging the procedural violations that resulted due to the promulgation of the IFR.
Because of our lawsuit, we froze ICE’s fines
On Sept. 20, 2026, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted a stay of the IFR and all the fines issued under it. The Court held that the IFR’s regulations, used by the government to impose the fines, are likely unlawful because ICE and DHS failed to adequately consider individual circumstances. As the Court acknowledged, “both named plaintiffs have remained in the country to pursue immigration relief that would allow them to obtain lawful status” and one “has since been approved for an immigrant visa and was admitted as a lawful permanent resident.” Without that individualized consideration, the Court held the government’s actions likely do not comply with the law.
Therefore, the regulations promulgated by the government, and all fines issued after June 27, 2025 and before October 14, 2026, are stayed while the case is pending. This means that the government cannot enforce these fines while the case moves forward.