The Trump administration is directing Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorneys to combat fraudulent asylum claims by targeting lawyers accused of filing false applications in immigration court, according to a Department of Homeland Security directive.
The guidance released Tuesday instructs ICE to develop anti-fraud policies under a federal law governing immigration document fraud, giving agency attorneys broader authority to pursue penalties against migrants and their legal representatives.
“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 said in a statement announcing the policy.
The directive is the latest step in President Donald Trump’s broader immigration crackdown and reflects the administration’s growing scrutiny of asylum claims and the lawyers who file them.
DHS said the policy builds on a March 2025 presidential memorandum accusing immigration attorneys and large law firms of coaching migrants to conceal information or lie to obtain asylum protections.
The administration has increasingly argued the asylum system is being abused by migrants seeking to avoid deportation as immigration courts continue to face major backlogs.
Victoria Slatton, an immigration attorney and former asylum officer at DHS, said fraud in the asylum system exists and should be addressed, but cautioned that the administration’s memo was vague and could...
The Department of Homeland Security is directing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to craft new policies to crack down on immigration attorneys if they aid in filing fraudulent asylum...