A federal judge in Massachusetts has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing civil penalties of up to $1.8 million against migrants who remain in the United States after receiving final deportation orders.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Boston issued the ruling on October 5 in a class-action lawsuit brought by two migrants who had been assessed the penalties, along with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. The judge found that the administration’s method of imposing the fines was unlawful and violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act.
Under the policy, the Department of Homeland Security imposed fines of $998 per day on people who failed to leave the country after receiving final removal orders. Because the penalties could be applied retroactively for up to five years, the maximum amount could reach roughly $1.8 million for an individual.
DHS said in July that it had issued more than 103,000 such fines, totaling approximately $84 billion, since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
The lawsuit challenged not only the fines themselves but also the process used by immigration authorities to impose them. The plaintiffs argued that Immigration and Customs Enforcement frequently relied on standardized notices without adequately determining whether an individual had deliberately or voluntarily failed to comply with a removal order.
O’Toole agreed that the penalty notices lacked sufficient individualized allegations explaining why a particular migrant’s conduct justified a fine. He also found that the administration had improperly changed the process for assessing the penalties without first providing the public with an opportunity to comment, as required under federal administrative law.
The judge warned that enforcing the penalties could cause severe financial consequences for the affected migrants. He noted that many were already in financially vulnerable circumstances and could face insolvency if the government pursued collection.
The fines are based on a civil-penalty provision contained in the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. Although Congress authorized such penalties decades ago, the Trump administration revived their use on a large scale during its second term.
The case was filed on behalf of migrants facing the penalties, including two individual plaintiffs who challenged the government’s approach. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
The ruling represents a significant legal challenge to one element of the administration’s immigration enforcement strategy. However, it does not resolve the broader lawsuit, and the legal dispute over the government’s authority and procedures for imposing the fines is expected to continue.
The Department of Homeland Security had not immediately issued a detailed response to the ruling.
