DHS stripped independent board review from immigration civil-penalty appeals, cutting the window to 15 business days

On June 27, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review put into effect an interim final rule that overhauled how immigrants can contest civil monetary penalties assessed under the Immigration and Nationality Act, including the failure-to-depart fines DHS levies under INA Section 274D on people who remain in the country after a final removal order. The rule shifted appeals from the Department of Justice's Board of Immigration Appeals to a DHS supervisory officer who reviews the record de novo, cut the time to file an appeal from 30 days to 15 business days, and eliminated the option for an in-person interview that had previously let a fined person present evidence directly. DHS wrote in the rule's own preamble that it was eliminating the interview option and shortening the appeal period as a deliberate streamlining of the process, while asserting the new procedure remained consistent with due process.

The prior process, in place since the fine authority took its modern form, gave a person served with a Notice of Intention to Fine 30 days to respond in writing under oath, request an in-person interview, and receive an extension for good cause; a denial could then be appealed to the BIA, an appellate body inside DOJ but institutionally separate from the DHS component that issued the fine. The June 27 rule removed that separation entirely: the same department that assesses the fine — DHS — now also decides the appeal, subject only to internal review by a different DHS officer rather than an outside board.

INA Section 274D authorizes penalties of up to $998 per day, and unpaid fines compound retroactively for as long as five years, routinely reaching six and seven figures for people who received a removal order long ago. The rule applies nationwide to anyone subject to a federal removal order who fails to depart, regardless of where they are served.

Updates

2025-11-20 — Two fined immigrants and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center sued DHS, ICE, CBP, and DOJ over the fine program [4]

In Maria L. v. Noem (D. Mass.), plaintiffs challenged the reinstated civil-fine program as violating the Excessive Fines Clause, the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial, and due process, and as adopted without notice-and-comment rulemaking, seeking to vacate the rule and all penalties assessed under it.

2026-01-07 — Plaintiffs sought an emergency stay of detention and removal for people facing the fines [5]

Plaintiffs in Maria L. v. Noem filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order staying detention and removal of fined individuals; the court ordered the government to respond by January 9, 2026, and DHS opposed the motion.

2026-01 — DHS defended the fine program in federal court [2]

In a January 2026 court filing responding to litigation over the fines, the government argued the program was authorized by statutes Congress passed nearly 30 years earlier and was lawful, stating that "whether an alien remains in country to pursue other forms of immigration relief is not a defense under the statutes."

2026-09-01 — Reporting detailed the fine program's scale and DHS's compliance survey [2]

On September 1, 2026, CNN (via Scripps News) reported that DHS had assessed these fines against more than 100,000 people for a combined total exceeding $84 billion since the start of Trump's second term, and had collected roughly $1.2 million as of mid-July 2026 — figures DHS confirmed on the record. DHS's own review of surveyed fine recipients found that roughly 70% were in fact obtaining or pursuing lawful immigration status. The reporting profiled Hector Alessandro Negrete, fined $1,820,352 under the rule's shortened, self-reviewed appeal process after he had already left the United States for Mexico and twice submitted evidence of his departure, which DHS deemed insufficient. Charles Moore, an attorney with the nonprofit Public Justice, which is suing over the fines, said DHS "is weaponizing these fines to terrorize families and to push immigrants out of the country."