DHS Is Billing Unaccompanied Immigrant Kids $5,000

The Department of Homeland Security has sent unaccompanied immigrant teenagers $5,000 fines for illegally entering the United States, according to youth advocates and fine notices reviewed by New York Focus and The Intercept.

Roughly 10 teenagers in New York, ages 14 to 17, received the fine in mid-October, said Meena Shah, managing director of the Legal Services Center at The Door, a New York City-based nonprofit that serves young people. At least one teenager in Michigan has received the fine too, according to the teen’s lawyer. New York Focus and The Intercept reviewed copies of the fine notices delivered in both New York and Michigan.

The fine is one of several new financial penalties for immigrants created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed in July. The federal government is issuing the fines under a section of the law titled “Inadmissible alien apprehension fee,” which is set at $5,000 and can be applied to people apprehended between official ports of entry. Homeland Security’s application of the fine hasn’t been previously reported.

Shah and Ana Raquel Devereaux, the attorney representing the teenager in Michigan, both said the kids are living in shelters overseen by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR, which takes custody of unaccompanied immigrant children while they wait to be released to an adult sponsor.

Devereaux, who works for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, pointed out that kids in government custody have no ability to work.

“It’s really about creating fear,” Devereaux said. “There’s no way that a child in this situation would be able to pay this, and the penalties are so severe.”

Minors in Texas and Pennsylvania have received the fines too, according to a staff member at a national nonprofit who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the nonprofit’s leadership fears being targeted by the Trump administration.

The fine is one of several ways the Trump administration has sought in recent weeks to pressure minors who entered the U.S. alone to return to their home countries. Over Labor Day weekend, the government attempted to deport dozens of unaccompanied Guatemalan children who were in ORR custody; kids were loaded onto planes before a judge halted the plan. In early October, the government said it was offering $2,500 to unaccompanied minors 14 years and older who agree to leave the country.

The notices reviewed by New York Focus and The Intercept state that “Payment in full is due now” and list an array of potential consequences for failure to pay, including collection litigation and negative impacts on their immigration cases. Fines that aren’t paid in full will accrue interest, the notices say.

“They’re trying to pressure and coerce these young people into taking voluntary departure,” Shah said. “These are the stressors you’re putting very young kids under.”

Border Patrol teased the apprehension fee in a September 24 Facebook post, which included a megaphone emoji and said anyone 14 years or older could be fined. Money collected from the fines will be credited to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the text of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Other fees created by the new law include $100 to apply for asylum, plus $100 every year the application is pending; $550 for asylum-seekers to apply for a work permit; and $5,000 for anyone ordered removed in absentia and then arrested by ICE. Lack of clarity over exactly how and when to pay the $100 fees recently sparked panic among asylum-seekers in New York and a flood of misinformation and potential scams, New York Focus recently reported.

In response to questions about the $5,000 fee being applied to minors, the Department of Homeland Security referred New York Focus and The Intercept to a press release about a different fee of $1,000 for immigrants paroled into the U.S. The agency did not respond to follow-up questions.

Supporters of the fine argue that it will incentivize people to cross at legal entry points rather than traverse dangerous desert terrain and take up Customs and Border Protection resources. Andrew Arthur, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advocates for restrictions on immigration, said he understood the argument that a teenager won’t be able to pay a $5,000 fine, but said their parents or relatives would then be on the hook. 

“This isn’t, you know, ‘We want to punish 14-year-old kids,’” Arthur said. “This is, ‘We want to discourage parents from paying smugglers to bring their kids to the United States.’”

It’s unclear how many immigrants have received the $5,000 fine. Several attorneys who work with unaccompanied minors in New York and other states told New York Focus they’d heard about the fines secondhand but hadn’t seen any cases personally. All of the cases New York Focus and The Intercept were able to verify involved teenagers in ORR custody, but advocates said they had heard of minors outside of federal custody receiving the fines.

Under Trump, the number of unaccompanied children crossing the border and entering ORR custody has plummeted. In September, about 2,000 kids were in ORR custody on average, down from more than 6,000 last October. 

Theo Liebmann, a law professor at Hofstra University who runs a legal clinic for immigrant youth, said unaccompanied kids in ORR custody are particularly vulnerable because they often don’t have lawyers, having recently arrived in the U.S. 

Liebmann, who doesn’t have any clients who have received the fine, said it appeared to be an effort to “go after the kids who are especially defenseless and won’t be able to understand how to look at this threat, how real this threat is, and what they can do in response.”