- The Department of Homeland Security proposed raising civil fines for in absentia removal orders to $18,000.
- New penalties aim to recover deportation costs associated with locating and detaining migrants who miss court hearings.
- The 30-day public comment period for this rule change is set to conclude on June 22, 2026.
(UNITED STATES) — The Department of Homeland Security proposed raising a civil fine for migrants ordered removed in absentia to $18,000 from $5,130, opening a rulemaking process that ties the increase to deportation costs and a broader enforcement push under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025.
DHS published the notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register on May 19, 2026, under docket number ICEB-2026-0034. The proposal says the current fine “is insufficient to cover deportation costs” and that the new figure more accurately “reflects the estimated cost of locating, detaining, and deporting a single person.”
The proposed penalty applies to migrants who receive a Notice to Appear, miss their immigration court hearing, and then receive a removal order in absentia. DHS would assess the fine once Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests the person for deportation.
The legal authority comes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Public Law 119-21, which President Trump signed on July 4, 2025. The law created new immigration fees and reduced or removed many fee waivers, giving the administration a statutory base for a wider schedule of penalties.
That proposal sits alongside another sanction the administration has already highlighted: a daily fine of $998 for people who willfully fail or refuse to depart the United States after a final removal order. In a public warning issued on May 13, 2026, DHS said, “If you enter the United States illegally, you will face the consequences, including FINES. UP TO $998 per day for willfully failing to [depart].”
A DHS spokesperson also set out the scale the administration says it is pursuing. “Between January 20, 2025, and March 18, 2026, ICE issued 65,101 civil fines to illegal aliens totaling more than $36 billion. Our message is clear: Illegal aliens in the country illegally should leave now or face consequences.”
The department’s own estimate for the new in absentia fine is narrower and more concrete. DHS projects about 23,670 arrests tied to these orders in fiscal year 2026, with potential annual transfers to the government of $426 million.
Those figures show how the administration is framing the measure: not only as punishment for skipped hearings, but as a way to recover money the government says it spends tracking down and removing people who did not appear in court. DHS has cast the proposal as part of a deterrence strategy meant to discourage missed hearings and push migrants to leave on their own before penalties mount.
The sum is steep. Critics and policy analysts, including those at the Migration Policy Institute, say $18,000 can exceed several years of household income for migrants, leaving little realistic chance of payment even before detention or deportation costs cut off work and housing.
That burden grows quickly when the flat $18,000 penalty intersects with the separate $998-a-day sanction for failing to depart after a final order. Some people have received letters seeking total fines of more than $1.8 million, showing how civil penalties can stack into debts that far exceed any plausible ability to pay.
The legal consequences can reach beyond collection. Migrants with unpaid federal debts can face barriers when they later seek visas or other immigration relief, making these fines more than an immediate enforcement tool and potentially turning them into a long-term obstacle to returning lawfully.
Missed-hearing cases occupy a distinct category in immigration court because an in absentia order follows a failure to appear after the government issues a Notice to Appear. Under the proposed rule, DHS would attach a fixed amount to that category rather than leaving the current lower fine in place.
The department’s filing does not present the change as a minor adjustment. Raising the amount from $5,130 to $18,000 would more than triple the existing fine, and the agency links that jump directly to what it says is the actual cost of finding, detaining and deporting one person after a hearing is missed.
The rule remains at the proposal stage. DHS opened a 30-day public comment period that ends on June 22, 2026, giving advocates, lawyers, state and local officials, and members of the public a window to argue for revisions or oppose the increase outright before the department moves toward a final rule.
The formal notice appears in the [Federal Register notice on increasing the fee for certain aliens ordered removed in absentia](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/19/2026-10082/increasing-the-fee-for-certain-aliens-ordered-removed-in-absentia). DHS has also signaled related enforcement priorities in an [April 28, 2026 USCIS newsroom announcement on consequences for unpaid annual asylum fees and new H.R. 1 requirements](https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/dhs-announces-consequences-for-unpaid-annual-asylum-fees-unveils-new-hr-1-requirements).
The policy marks one of the clearest examples yet of how the administration is using the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to widen the financial penalties attached to immigration violations. In this case, the Feds are not simply increasing a filing charge or administrative fee; they are proposing a debt of $18, 000 against people arrested after missing court and being ordered removed.
What happens next will turn on the rulemaking record the department builds before June 22, 2026. Until then, the administration’s position is already plain in its own language: skipped hearings and ignored removal orders will carry larger bills, and DHS wants those bills to match what it says deportation actually costs.
