Court Blocks the Blight House's Attempt to fine Non-White Immigrants who fail to willingly Deport After Crossing the Border to Obtain Food, Jobs, Housing and Clean Water

US District Judge George O’Toole in Boston on Monday issued a ruling blocking the Trump administration from assessing and collecting fines of up to $1.8 million on migrants who fail to willingly leave the US after receiving final deportation orders.

O’Toole resolved the class action suit against the administration by granting a motion to stay the proceedings in favor of the plaintiffs, two affected individuals from the class and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC). He held that the plaintiff’s claim that the administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by failing to provide a notice-and-comment period for their rule imposing the fines was likely to succeed, and that the balance of equities rules heavily in the plaintiff’s favor.

“The plaintiffs here face assessment and possible collection of enormous fines well beyond their capacity to pay,” said O’Toole. “Given the amount of the fines, the plaintiffs face the possibility of garnishment of wages and bank accounts, seized assets such as vehicles and homes, IRS reports, federal collection suits, and adverse future admissibility determinations.”

The class action lawsuit challenges a January 2025 Executive Order (EO) titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” which directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to take all appropriate action to assess and collect fines from individuals who were unlawfully present in the US. DHS responded in June 2025 by promulgating a rule amending the process for assessing civil monetary penalties to allow the agency to impose civil fines more efficiently and on a larger scale. [MORE]