Document type: Rule Publication date: 2025-06-27 Document number: 2025-11965

Abstract

This interim final rule (“IFR”) amends existing DHS and DOJ regulations. It provides exclusive DHS procedures for the issuance of civil monetary penalties under the Immigration and Nationality Act for aliens who fail to depart voluntarily during the voluntary departure period, willfully fail or refuse to depart after a final removal order and certain other proscribed activities, or are apprehended while improperly entering or attempting to enter the United States. The IFR also transfers the appeals process for these penalties from DOJ’s Board of Immigration Appeals to DHS.

Update — October 14, 2026: this interim rule has been finalized

DHS (ICE) and the Justice Department’s EOIR issued a final rule with the same title, FR Doc. 2026-21024, which was placed on public inspection on October 9, 2026 and published in the Federal Register on October 14, 2026 (91 FR 65390). The published rule states: “The effective date of this final rule is October 14, 2026.”

  • DHS part (8 CFR part 281): the interim rule is “adopted as final” with one change — a new 8 CFR 281.1(e)(2), “Appeals affected by mail delay.” An appeal filed after the 15-business-day deadline must include a written explanation and any available evidence of the mail delay; if ICE determines the late filing was due to mail delay beyond the person’s control, ICE accepts the appeal as timely and decides it on the merits.
  • Justice Department part (8 CFR parts 1003 and 1280): “adopted as final without change.”
  • What stays the same: the penalties covered (INA 240B(d), 274D(a)(1) and 275(b)), the written decision and order served in person or by regular mail, the 15-business-day appeal to DHS, review by a supervisory officer who did not issue the decision with a final decision within 45 days, and no appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. The penalty amounts are not changed by this rule.
  • Scale reported in the rule: from June 27, 2025 through September 14, 2026, ICE issued approximately 110,000 failure-to-depart civil penalties and CBP issued an additional 66,000 civil penalties for unlawful entry.

How these penalties work for people who received voluntary departure: voluntary departure. After a removal order: detention after a removal order.

Source: final rule, 91 FR 65390 (FR Doc. 2026-21024).

Official sources

Why this matters for immigrants

Final rules published in the Federal Register under the Immigration topic tag have binding legal effect on:

  • USCIS (immigration benefits, asylum, naturalization)
  • ICE (enforcement, removal, detention)
  • EOIR (immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals)
  • CBP (border admissibility and inspection)

Final Rules (“Rule” document type) become binding law on the effective date stated in the document. Proposed Rules are not yet binding and may be modified or withdrawn after public comment. Always verify the most current version of any rule at federalregister.gov before relying on it for legal or filing decisions.

Last verified: 2026-10-15. General procedural information — not legal advice. Federal Register rules change frequently; always verify the current version at the source URL.

Recent fee, deadline, and contact context (2025-2026)

Key lines stay here: verify every USCIS fee at uscis.gov/g-1055 before filing; USCIS Contact Center 1-800-375-5283; comments on proposed rules go to regulations.gov under the docket number. The shared context for every rule on this site — the H.R.1 / OBBBA fee changes, how Federal Register effective dates and comment periods work, and the USCIS, ICE and EOIR contact lines — is maintained once, on the policy changes hub.