A new federal regulation opens an exception pathway for immigrants who received civil fines from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and were unable to appeal in time because the postal service delayed delivering the notification.
The final joint rule of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), identified as FR Doc. 2026-21024, is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register this Wednesday, October 14, and will take effect on that same day.
The document consolidates the interim rule that both agencies published in June 2025 without substantial changes.
The only real modification is the introduction of a postal exception to the ordinary appeal period, included in the new section § 281.1(e)(2) of the Code of Federal Regulations.
What changes?
As of June 2025, the procedure currently in place under 8 CFR part 281 grants immigrants 15 business days to appeal a civil penalty from ICE. That deadline remains unchanged.
What the final rule introduces from now on is the possibility for ICE to accept appeals filed after that deadline when the delay was due to documented postal delays outside the control of the interested party.
If ICE determines that the appeal was submitted late for that reason, it will accept it as filed in a timely manner and will examine it on the merits.
However, acceptance is not guaranteed in advance nor does it automatically imply the cancellation of the fine.
The Departments dismissed the idea of expanding the exception to a general criterion of "just cause," considering it, according to the preamble, too vague and likely to lead to "inconsistent practices among immigration officials and different outcomes for people in similar situations."
Who does it affect and who does it not affect?
The exception applies exclusively to the three categories of civil penalties in 8 CFR part 281:
- Failure to comply with voluntary departure (between $1,992 and $9,970, with a predetermined amount of $3,000).
- Negative to leave after a final deportation order (up to 998 dollars for each day of voluntary non-compliance).
- and entry or attempt of illegal entry upon being apprehended (between 100 and 500 dollars).
It does not affect asylum deadlines, judicial remedies, or deportation appeals.
It also does not change the existing exclusions: minors, beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), those protected under the Convention Against Torture, individuals with stays of deportation or approved deferred action, beneficiaries of VAWA protections or T and U visas, and those who present themselves at a port of entry to seek asylum are still excluded.
The regulation itself clarifies that “foreigners who arrive at a port of entry to seek asylum or other related protection are not subject to civil penalties under this rule”.
What evidence is required and how does ICE evaluate each case?
To qualify for the exception, the immigrant must submit, along with their late appeal, a written explanation stating that the delay was due to the late delivery of the immigration officer's decision, as well as any available documentary evidence that proves that postal delay.
The official document also recommends obtaining time-stamped evidence of the mail deposit directly from the United States Postal Service (USPS) or a commercial courier, because depositing an appeal in a regular mailbox "does not guarantee an immediate postmark or proof of the date of mailing."
ICE will evaluate each request considering the actual dates of submission and receipt, the cause and duration of the delay, and the good faith efforts of the individual to file the appeal upon receiving the notification.
Judicial context and extent of the system
The regulatory framework that this rule consolidates has been the subject of litigation. At the end of September, a federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily suspended the interim rule in the case of Maria L. v. Mullin, considering that the 15-day period might be insufficient to receive the letter, understand it, and prepare a defense. The litigation continues.
The scale of the system illustrates why this exception is important for the Cuban community: from June 2025 to mid-September 2026, ICE issued approximately 110,000 fines for non-compliance with departure and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued another 66,000 for illegal entry.
Only 3% of those affected appealed, and among the resolved appeals, foreigners prevailed in 25% of the cases.
Documented cases among Cubans include a fine of over 1,820,000 dollars that was canceled after the affected individual demonstrated that they had an active immigration process linked to a U visa.
There is also the case of another Cuban in Phoenix who faced a penalty of almost $1,800,000 for not complying with a deportation order from 2010, claiming that he was never notified because he had been incarcerated since 2007.
Since the document was still under public inspection at the close of this edition, it is recommended to verify the final version in the Federal Register before making any decisions based on this regulation.
Este cambio regulatorio es uno de los muchos que afectan a los inmigrantes en Estados Unidos. Sigue todos los detalles en nuestra sección de
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