A federal judge in Boston blocked the Trump administration from imposing ‘astronomical’ fines up to $1.8 million on illegal migrants who fail to leave the US after receiving final deportation orders. 

US District Judge George O’Toole, a Bill Clinton appointee, called Trump’s fines – issued to tens of thousands of migrants – unlawful in an order on Monday.

The fines included maximum penalties of $1.8 million, which would push the migrants into financial ruin, he said.

The judge called Trump’s fines ‘exorbitant’ and said they would hurt migrants, who already ‘live in an economically precarious position.’

DHS did not immediately respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment. A spokesperson said DOJ is ‘reviewing’ the decision. 

The fines are part of the president’s hard-line immigration crackdown, and the administration’s broader push for migrants to ‘self-deport.’

As part of the effort, DHS sent notices last July to thousands of migrants who had final deportation orders.

It notified them of the new financial penalties – which included daily fines of $998 – and gave them just 30 days to contest them. 

Protesters demonstrate against Trump’s immigration policies in New York Ciry

The fines are part of the president’s hard-line immigration crackdown, and the administration’s broader push for migrants to ‘self-deport’ 

Then-CBP acting commander Gregory Bovino exits a convenience store of a gas station while conducting an immigration raid in Kenner, Louisiana

The plan also allowed DHS to retroactively impose fines on migrants for a period of up to five years, for a maximum of $1.8 million.

DHS said earlier this year that it had issued more than 100,000 such fines to migrants in the US, bringing the total amount of civil fines to a whopping $84 billion. 

A group of migrants brought a class action lawsuit against DHS last November to challenge the fines.

Lawyers for the group argued that the fines violate the Administrative Procedure Act as well as the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and other protections under the US Constitution. 

Since taking office last year, President Donald Trump and his administration have prioritized a sweeping immigration crackdown. To date, they have revoked hundreds of thousands of visas for migrants and green card holders authorized to live and work temporarily in the US, and have ended so-called ‘TPS,’ or Temporary Protected Status designations for most countries. Trump has also sought to end so-called ‘birthright citizenship’ protections for babies born on US soil via multiple executive orders, despite Supreme Court’s rejection of the effort earlier this year.