DHS Orders Aggressive Crackdown on Alleged Asylum Fraud, Warns Lawyers Over False Claims

The Department of Homeland Security announced a sweeping crackdown on alleged asylum fraud, warning that immigration attorneys who file false claims for illegal migrants could now face tougher enforcement actions from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Under a new DHS directive, ICE attorneys are being granted expanded authority to pursue violations of federal document fraud laws, including possible penalties against lawyers accused of submitting fraudulent asylum applications in immigration court.

“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.

Percival accused some immigration attorneys of routinely coaching migrants to exaggerate or fabricate persecution claims in order to avoid deportation and gain legal status in the United States.

The directive follows a March 2025 memorandum from President Donald Trump, who alleged that members of the immigration bar and major law firms were helping clients conceal their past or misrepresent their circumstances to secure asylum.

DHS said the move is part of the Trump administration’s intensified effort to restore integrity to the U.S. immigration system and combat what officials described as widespread abuse of asylum protections.