Judge Blocks Trump Immigration Fines

PHOTO CAPTION: An Army officer reviews documents with an ICE deportation officer during federal immigration removal operations in May 2025. A federal judge has since blocked the Trump administration's expanded immigration fine system. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Aubree Owens.

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s system for imposing massive civil fines on migrants who remain in the United States after receiving final removal orders.
The ruling comes after the Department of Homeland Security said it had assessed more than 103,000 immigration-related fines totaling approximately $84 billion since President Donald Trump returned to office.
Under the policy, some migrants were assessed penalties of $998 for every day they remained in the country after a final removal order.
The government applied those penalties retroactively for as much as five years, allowing individual fines to reach approximately $1.8 million.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston granted a stay blocking the administration’s challenged fine procedures while litigation continues.
The ruling does not eliminate the federal law authorizing civil penalties for certain people who fail to comply with removal orders.
Instead, O’Toole found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in showing that the administration’s method for imposing the penalties violated federal law.
Congress authorized civil fines for certain immigration violations in 1996.
One provision allows daily penalties against a person subject to a final removal order who willfully fails or refuses to depart, fails to make a good-faith effort to obtain required travel documents, fails to appear for removal or takes action designed to prevent departure.
The maximum daily amount has since been adjusted for inflation to $998.
The Trump administration dramatically expanded use of those penalties after returning to office in 2025.
In June 2025, DHS and the Justice Department implemented a streamlined process designed to allow the government to issue immigration fines more quickly and on a much larger scale.
Among other changes, the process shortened the time available to challenge penalties, changed how notices could be delivered and eliminated several procedures available under the previous system.
The administration argued that the changes were needed to enforce laws that had gone largely unused by previous administrations.
The government said the fines were intended to encourage compliance with removal orders and deter people from remaining in the country unlawfully.
By July 2026, DHS said it had issued more than 103,000 fines worth approximately $84 billion.
But the scale of the assessments was dramatically larger than the amount the government had actually collected.
A Congressional Research Service report published in August said DHS had reportedly collected approximately $1.2 million of the more than $84 billion it had assessed.
The lawsuit challenging the fine policy was brought by two migrants identified as Maria L. and Nancy M., along with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
One plaintiff was assessed hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties.
The other was assessed approximately $1.8 million.
Their attorneys argued that immigration authorities were issuing penalties through standardized forms without first making an individualized determination that a person’s failure to leave was actually willful or voluntary, as required by the statutes.
O’Toole agreed that the plaintiffs had shown they were likely to succeed on that argument.
He wrote that the government’s process appeared to impose penalties without individually considering whether each person’s conduct met the legal requirements for a fine.
The judge also found that the administration was likely required to go through the normal public notice-and-comment process before implementing its new streamlined system.
The government had argued that exceptions to those procedural requirements applied.
O’Toole rejected those arguments at this stage of the case.
He also found that allowing collection to continue while the lawsuit proceeds could cause irreparable financial harm.
One plaintiff works as a nail technician and was assessed a fine in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Another works two jobs and was assessed more than $1.8 million.
The judge said fines of that size could push the plaintiffs into insolvency through wage garnishment, seizure of assets, collection lawsuits and other consequences before the legality of the policy is finally decided.
The decision does not stop deportation orders.
It also does not prevent the government from imposing legally authorized immigration penalties through other procedures.
O’Toole specifically noted that the government can still pursue fines using the procedures that existed before the challenged 2025 rule.
The administration may also appeal the ruling as the lawsuit continues.
For now, however, the system used to issue penalties on a massive scale has been halted.
And the numbers behind it are extraordinary.
DHS says it assessed more than 103,000 fines totaling roughly $84 billion.
A federal judge has now blocked the process used to impose them while the legal fight continues.