The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on April 23, 2021, that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has rescinded two orders related to the collection of civil financial penalties for noncitizens who fail to depart the United States.
A DHS statement said the fines “were not effective and had not meaningfully advanced the interests of the agency.” ICE intends to work with the Department of the Treasury to cancel the existing debts of those who had been fined, DHS said. “There is no indication that these penalties promoted compliance with noncitizens’ departure obligations. We can enforce our immigration laws without resorting to ineffective and unnecessary punitive measures,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The DHS statement said that this rescission “marks ICE’s latest move toward focusing its limited resources on those posing the greatest risk to national security and public safety.”
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