A federal judge has put the brakes on the Trump administration’s revived program of massive civil fines against immigrants, ruling that the Department of Homeland Security likely broke the law by slapping people with enormous penalties without checking whether they actually did anything to deserve them.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr., an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, granted a stay Wednesday against a June 2025 rule that let DHS rush out fines for failing to leave the country, along with ICE’s practice of issuing them in bulk.
The agency has reportedly handed out more than 65,000 penalties worth roughly $36 billion.
the most powerful people in the history of the species get off by targeting those who can defend themselves the least.
yup real INTELLIGENT species we got here.
$36b divided by 65,000 is about $554,000.
The fine is $998 per day for “willfully” failing to depart after a final order of removal. $3,000 for failing to depart after voluntarily agreeing to do so, per incident. $250 for entering the United States not at a port of entry (increased to $5,130 after 4 July, 2025).
The per-day fines accrue to a limit of $1.8 million per individual.
The $998 per day fine was part of the 1996 immigration reform package. Previous administrations didn’t bother with it too much, because how the heck are going to collect the money from people you’ve already deported to foreign country? And how will people pay you hundreds of thousands if they’re already poor and broke?
This administration doesn’t care about the practical limits of collection, and I suspect they don’t care too much about proving the “willfully” part of it either.
