Judge blocks Trump policy of fining immigrants up to $1.8 million after deportation orders

A federal judge in Boston on Monday blocked the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing civil fines of up to $1.8 million against immigrants who remain in the United States after a final deportation order. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole issued the ruling in a class-action lawsuit, according to a Reuters report.

The injunction stops the government from enforcing the penalties while the lawsuit moves forward, according to reporting on the decision. DHS had no immediate comment.

How the fines work

Beginning last year, the administration assessed fines of $998 per day on immigrants who did not leave the country after a deportation order. The fines were applied retroactively for up to five years, which produces the maximum penalty of $1.8 million.

As recently as July, DHS said it had issued more than 103,000 fines totaling about $84 billion since President Donald Trump returned to office, Reuters reported.

Congress authorized civil penalties of this kind in the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. Reuters reported that no administration enforced them until Trump’s first term.

The lawsuit

Reuters described the two individual plaintiffs as among the thousands of immigrants who have been assessed civil penalties by DHS. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of a class of people in that position.

The class action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Justice Department. The Legal Aid Society, Public Justice and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, known as RAICES, announced the suit on Nov. 20, 2025.

The plaintiffs are two immigrants, identified in court filings as Maria L. of Massachusetts and Nancy M. of Florida, and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a legal advocacy organization. Nancy M. faces a fine of about $1.82 million, according to Cuba Headlines.

The plaintiffs challenged the fine policy itself, and they also challenged what they described as an ICE practice of issuing fines on boilerplate forms. They said the agency did not independently assess whether a person’s failure to leave was “willful” or “voluntary.”

What the judge found

O’Toole ruled that the fines violated the Administrative Procedure Act. He found that the forms ICE used did not contain specific allegations explaining why an individual’s conduct warranted a penalty.

He also found that the administration did not follow required rulemaking procedures when it streamlined the process. In July 2025, according to TRT World, DHS removed a 30-day notice period and curtailed appeals. The judge ruled that the change required public notice and comment, which the government did not provide.

“The plaintiffs live in an economically precarious position even without the imposition of the government’s exorbitant fines,” O’Toole wrote, according to Reuters.

What remains

The order is not a final judgment. Because it is an injunction issued while the case continues, the lawsuit proceeds in the Massachusetts federal court. Cuba Headlines reported that the government may still enforce penalties under the procedures that were in place before the 2025 changes.

The ruling applies to the policies challenged in the case. Reuters reported that DHS said as of July that it had issued more than 103,000 fines.