Judge blocks Trump administration from fining migrants up to $1.8 M over deportation orders
WASHINGTON, DC: A federal Judge in Boston blocked President Donald Trump from imposing a hefty fine of $1.8 million on migrants who failed to leave the United States despite receiving final deportation orders.
Fines of nearly $2 million per person are among the tools the Trump administration has used to pressure migrants to leave the country voluntarily.
Judge blocks Trump’s move to impose hefty fines on migrants
US District Judge George O’Toole on Monday, Oct 5, ruled that the federal government’s decision to impose fines on migrants was unlawful and wrote that migrants in the “economically precarious position” of responding to fines could be pushed into “insolvency.”
“They face the possible garnishment of their already modest wages, loss of any vehicles and homes, federal collections lawsuits and other adverse collateral consequences,” O’Toole wrote.
“If they were ultimately successful in this suit, there is no indication that simply requiring the government to vacate their fine notices would, or even could, at that point, make the plaintiffs whole or return the circumstances to the status quo.”
Judge O’Toole writes about a laborer woman’s case against Mullin
The judge appointed by former President Bill Clinton referenced to the case of the migrant women who sued the DHS and Secretary Markwayne Mullin to back his argument.
He also described how they work for meager salaries and fled to the US to escape the threat of political violence.
“Nancy M was fined over $1.8 million,” O’Toole wrote, referring to one of the plaintiffs.
“She is a laborer working over 60 hours a week with two jobs, and she reports feeling serious anxiety affecting her ability to sleep, eat and live a normal life.”
As per the ruling by O’Toole, fines violated the Administrative Procedure Act by not explaining why any migrant’s conduct warranted a penalty.
DHS issued over $84 B civil fines
Nearly two month ago, the Department of Justice stated it had issued more than $84 billion in civil fines to undocumented immigrants who chose not to leave the US since the start of President Trump’s second term.
No Presidential administration before Trump’s sought to use monetary penalties under the Immigration and Nationality Act, based on what O’Toole called “a long-ignored provision.
Additionally, O’Toole said that the provision has been “ revived by the present executive administration.”
Lawmakers attempted to push back on the administration’s use of fines via the Immigration and Nationality Act, with Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill) in July calling on DHS and the Department of Justice to pause the “improper application of certain civil penalties” in the law to “law-abiding immigrants.”
