One agency now decides immigration penalties and their appeals

The US government changed how it handles civil penalties for certain immigration violations. The Department of Homeland Security will now issue these fines and also hear the appeals against them.

Before this rule, the Department of Justice reviewed appeals for these immigration penalties. This provided a separate check on the Department of Homeland Security's decisions. Now, the same agency that issues the penalty also reviews its own work. This means people facing these fines lose an independent appeals process.