Federal Judge Blocks Policy of Fining Migrants Up to $1.8 Million; Boston Court Finds Process Unlawful
BOSTON, Oct. 6 — A federal judge on Monday (Oct. 5) blocked the Trump administration's efforts to impose fines of up to $1.8 million on migrants who fail to leave the United States after receiving final deportation orders, according to Reuters. U.S. District Judge George O'Toole in Boston, ruling in a class-action lawsuit filed last year, said the administration imposed the fines unlawfully, and that halting the policies was necessary because collecting the fines would likely drive the plaintiffs into insolvency: 'The plaintiffs live in an economically precarious position even without the imposition of the government's exorbitant fines,' he wrote. The Department of Homeland Security had no immediate comment.
The mechanism: starting last year, the administration levied fines of $998 per day on migrants who failed to depart, applied retroactively for up to five years to a maximum of $1.8 million. DHS said in July it had issued more than 103,000 fines totaling about $84 billion since the president returned to the White House. Congress authorized such civil penalties in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, but no administration sought to impose them until Trump's first term. In July 2025, DHS and the Justice Department streamlined assessment by eliminating a 30-day notice period and shortening the challenge process — a process the plaintiffs, who include the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, challenged along with what they described as boilerplate fine notices issued without assessing whether a failure to depart was willful or voluntary.
O'Toole, a Clinton appointee, noted one plaintiff, 'Nancy M.,' a laborer working two jobs and more than 60 hours a week, was fined over $1.8 million, and found the notices violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to give specific allegations explaining why an individual's conduct warranted a penalty. The ruling is preliminary relief; the case continues and the government may appeal.
Source: Reuters, Oct. 6.
Photo: John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse September 2024 — 4300streetcar / CC BY 4.0 (via Openverse)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse September 2024 — 4300streetcar / CC BY 4.0 (via Openverse)
