A federal judge in Boston has blocked the Trump administration from imposing civil penalties of as much as $1.8 million on migrants who remain in the United States after receiving final deportation orders.
US District Judge George O’Toole issued the order in a class-action case brought by migrants who had been hit with the penalties, along with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. The court found that the government’s approach to imposing the fines was unlawful and ordered a halt to the policies connected with their collection.
The ruling comes after the Department of Homeland Security said it had issued more than 103,000 such penalties, with their combined value reaching roughly $84 billion since Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Under the policy, migrants could be fined $998 for every day they remained in the country after a final removal order. Because the penalties could be applied retroactively for as long as five years, an individual liability could climb to approximately $1.8 million.
The fines are authorized under federal immigration law, but they were not routinely used by previous administrations. The Trump administration revived the mechanism during his first term and expanded its use during his second.
The challengers also objected to a procedure introduced in 2025 that accelerated the process for imposing penalties. The revised system removed a 30-day notice period and shortened the window available to contest a fine.
Another major issue before the court was how the penalties were assessed. The plaintiffs argued that immigration officials frequently relied on standardized forms without making an individual determination about whether a migrant had deliberately or voluntarily failed to leave the country.
O’Toole agreed, finding that the notices issued by the government did not contain enough specific information to explain why the recipient’s conduct justified a financial penalty. In his view, that failure violated requirements under the Administrative Procedure Act.
The judge also faulted the government for changing the penalty procedure without first giving the public an opportunity to comment. The administration therefore could not rely on the streamlined process to impose the fines, the court held.
O’Toole further warned that allowing the penalties to be collected could cause severe financial harm to the migrants involved, many of whom were already living in precarious economic circumstances.
The ruling puts a significant roadblock in the administration’s effort to use large financial penalties as another tool for enforcing deportation orders.
