The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a new directive for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), allowing the agency to take action against attorneys committing fraud.
The directive instructs ICE to enforce laws combating fraud and crack down on penalties for violators of document fraud. The enforcement of such policies also affect attorneys who file false asylum claims in immigration court.
“For many years, millions of illegal aliens have committed fraud in our immigration system. No place is this more rampant than in immigration court,” DHS General Counsel James Percival explained. “Protection claims like asylum are intended to cover unique and narrow circumstances, but it is standard practice for immigration attorneys representing illegal aliens to assert that virtually every illegal alien is going to be persecuted or tortured in his or her home country.”
“Historically, ICE has depended on the discipline of immigration judges and the enforcement of criminal fraud laws to deter this conduct, but ICE has its own tools,” Percival added. “Now, thanks to this directive, ICE attorneys have greater authority to enforce the law and stop the abuse of our asylum system by illegal aliens and attorneys.”
DHS used a March 2025 memorandum from President Trump as the basis for its action. According to the memo, the “immigration bar, and powerful Big Law pro bono practices, frequently coach clients to conceal their past or lie about their circumstances when asserting their asylum claims, all in an attempt to circumvent immigration policies enacted to protect our national security and deceive the immigration authorities and courts into granting them undeserved relief.”
