Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on April 21 that it will no longer be fining undocumented immigrants who fail to depart the United States. This action reverses the previous policy that often left immigrants thousands of dollars in debt to the federal government. ICE officials confirmed the rescission of two Trump-era orders, ending the collection of financial penalties and canceling fines already issued to undocumented immigrants.
“There is no indication that these penalties promoted compliance with noncitizens’ departure obligations,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated. “We can enforce our immigration laws without resorting to ineffective and unnecessary punitive measures.”
ICE ends Trump-era policy of fining undocumented immigrants, calling penalties ‘ineffective’
Immigration and Customs Enforcement will no longer issue fines to undocumented immigrants who have failed to depart the United States, the agency announced Friday, a reversal from the Trump-era policy that threatened immigrants with thousands of dollars in debt to the federal government.
ICE officials said the agency rescinded the two Trump-era orders on the collection of financial penalties after determining the policy to be “ineffective,” and that it intends to cancel fines already issued to undocumented immigrants.
The move, one of several shifts away from the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies, is part of the Biden administration’s effort to narrow the scope of immigration enforcement.
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Analysis By
Jennifer Doherty | February 26, 2021, 8:36 PM EST
For immigration attorney Lizbeth Mateo, her clients cases are personal the outcomes could affect her own removal proceedings someday. (Photo courtesy of Lizbeth Mateo/Optimist Films)
Before immigration attorney Lizbeth Mateo accompanied her client, Edith Espinal, into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement s office in Westerville, Ohio, on Feb. 18, she made a routine call to her assistant back in California.
Like her client, Mateo lacks legal documents to reside in the U.S., and she knew that either of them could be detained upon arrival a possibility that could affect her work on other cases. Espinal was scared preparing for the encounter, she told Law360 through an interpreter, but had faith in her attorney.
Lizbeth Mateo wants young undocumented people to know they can achieve their dreams.
Mateo, 36, is an undocumented immigrant and an attorney in California who is featured in The Undocumented Lawyer, an 18-minute documentary released last week on HBO. It details her life and her work with Edith Espinal, an undocumented immigrant who was in sanctuary in a Columbus church for more than three years.
Documentary filmmakers Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci followed Mateo for about two years as she worked with Espinal who is featured heavily in the film traveling frequently from Mateo s home in Los Angeles to Columbus to see her client.