NEW REPORT EXPOSES HARMS OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S IMMIGRATION FINES PROGRAM
NEW YORK CITY, NY — The NYU Immigrant Rights Clinic (“IRC”) today released Debt and the Deportation Agenda: Immigration Fines under the Second Trump Administration. The report exposes the harms of the second Trump Administration’s civil fines program, which has imposed more than $84 billion in massive, unpayable debts on more than 103,000 noncitizens. Based on the first survey of fine recipients and their legal representatives, the report finds that the U.S. government has targeted individuals who have deep ties to the United States, including those who have status or are actively pursuing lawful pathways to remain in the United States.
The stories of the people receiving these penalties have largely gone untold. Fine recipients fear retaliation by the administration for speaking out against the administration's practices. For the first time, the report passes the microphone to the real people whose lives have been upended by sudden, crushing debt, allowing immigrants and their advocates to speak in their own words about the nature of these fines and the reality of the daily lives of those receiving these fines.
