Fines Without Process: DHS Fast-Tracks Immigration Penalties

New rule revives Trump-era penalties, streamlines enforcement, and could saddle undocumented immigrants with daily fines up to $998.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in coordination with the Department of Justice (DOJ), has enacted a new interim final rule eliminating the long-standing 30-day notice period before imposing civil fines on undocumented immigrants. Effective immediately, DHS officers may now issue and mail fines without advance warning, a significant procedural shift designed to streamline immigration enforcement.

The rule, published Friday in the Federal Register (Vol. 90, No. 122), updates DHS regulations under 8 CFR Part 281 and DOJ’s 8 CFR Parts 1003 and 1280. It allows DHS to issue civil monetary penalties—interchangeably referred to in the rule as “fines,” “civil penalties,” and “civil monetary penalties”—for specific immigration violations including failure to depart under a removal or voluntary departure order and improper entry into the United States.