Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, FEDERAL REGULATIONS—DHS interim final rule simplifies process for imposition of civil monetary penalties on undocumented immigrants, (Jun 26, 2025)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

The interim final rule allows DHS to impose the penalties more quickly and on a greater number of immigrants.

An interim final rule from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) amends existing DHS and DOJ regulations at 8 C.F.R. part 280 to provide exclusive DHS procedures for the imposition of civil monetary penalties (CMPs) under the Immigration and Nationality Act on certain immigrants. The interim final rule, which becomes effective upon publication on June 27, 2025, also transfers the appeals process for such penalties from DOJ’s Board of Immigration Appeals to DHS. Interested parties may submit comment on the interim final rule; comments must be received within 30 days of the interim final rule’s publication in the Federal Register.

Interim final rule. The departments through their interim final rule are “streamlining the process” for imposing CMPs on undocumented immigrants who fail to depart voluntarily during the voluntary departure period, willfully fail or refuse to depart after a final removal order and certain other proscribed activities, or are apprehended while improperly entering or attempting to enter the U.S. The departments reason that the current process under 8 CFR part 280 was not designed with such penalties in mind, containing procedures and extended timelines that could hinder the ability of DHS to impose such penalties. The revised process would purportedly allow DHS to impose more CMPs more quickly and in proportion to the number of immigrants who have unlawfully entered the U.S. in recent years and who remain after a removal order or voluntary departure order. The interim final rule applies prospectively to actions to impose CMPs that are initiated on or after June 27, 2025.

CMP provisions of the INA. The INA authorizes the imposition of a number of CMPs for various immigration-related violations. It has included penalties against entities that and persons who fail to comply with statutory and regulatory requirements designed to prevent immigrants’ unlawful entry and presence in the U.S. The INA has also imposed CMPs on employers that knowingly hire, recruit, or refer for a fee immigrants without proper work authorization and on employers who fail to comply with employment verification requirements.

However, the INA did not provide for CMPs against immigrants violating U.S. immigration laws until 1996, when Congress substantially amended the INA through the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), adding three new provisions to the INA authorizing the Attorney General to impose civil monetary penalties against aliens who fail to voluntarily depart the U.S. during the specified period designated in an order granting voluntary departure, who are subject to a final order of removal and willfully fail or refuse to depart the U.S. or take certain other actions to thwart their departure or removal, or who are apprehended while illegally entering or attempting to enter the U.S.

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