Trump widens enforcement targets

Why it matters

The Trump administration is widening two enforcement campaigns at once, extending pressure beyond migrants and benefit recipients to the lawyers and prosecutors around them. A White House fact sheet published on May 26 urged state and local prosecutors to pursue fraud cases more aggressively and said federal agencies had already expanded anti-fraud actions across health care, food assistance and pandemic loans. On the same day, DHS announced a directive telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement lawyers to take additional steps against what it called “fraudulent asylum claims,” including claims involving attorneys accused of filing false cases. Immigration courts, meanwhile, are accelerating deportation dockets through mass hearings that can place 100 or more people before a judge at one time. ### What did the White House tell state prosecutors to do? The White House said on May 26 that fraud in public programs will persist unless offenders face “serious prison time” and state and local prosecutors treat those cases more aggressively. Its fact sheet tied that message to a broader federal campaign that includes a March executive order creating a Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and a January announcement of a new Justice Department division for national fraud enforcement. (whitehouse.gov) The May 26 fact sheet listed recent federal actions, including the suspension of 447 hospices and 23 home health agencies in Los Angeles, criminal warrants and administrative charges against 20 Minnesota businesses suspected of SNAP fraud, and the referral of 562,000 pandemic-era loans totaling $22 billion for collection. The White House presented those cases as evidence for a national push that now explicitly seeks help from state prosecutors. (whitehouse.gov) ### What changed for immigration lawyers? DHS said on May 26 that ICE had been directed to take “additional actions” against “fraudulent asylum claims,” including against attorneys who file false claims. The agency alleged that some immigration lawyers coach clients to conceal information and lie to obtain asylum, according to a public posting by the American Immigration Lawyers Association summarizing the directive. (whitehouse.gov) A March 22, 2025 presidential memo had already ordered the attorney general and homeland security secretary to review sanctions and oversight involving attorneys in asylum and immigration matters. The Executive Office for Immigration Review already maintains an attorney discipline program and a fraud-prevention program that can receive and investigate allegations involving immigration practitioners. (aila.org) AILA said the administration’s language about “rampant fraud and meritless claims” was a threat to the immigration bar and named Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in its criticism of the earlier memo. That response came from the trade group, not the administration. ### How are the courts speeding cases? Immigration courts inside the Justice Department are moving up hearings for hundreds of immigrants and grouping them into mass master calendar sessions, according to NPR affiliate reports and AILA postings published on May 26 and May 27. (aila.org) Those hearings, known by lawyers as “mega masters,” can include 100 or more respondents at a time. (aila.org) EOIR’s policy manual says a respondent who does not appear for a hearing can be ordered removed “in absentia.” A separate EOIR manual section says those orders can be challenged through motions to reopen, but the request must explain why the person did not appear. A recent Board of Immigration Appeals decision said immigration judges must proceed in absentia when DHS shows proper notice and removability. ### Why do missed hearings matter so much? (ideastream.org) A missed hearing can produce a deportation order without the immigrant being present. EOIR’s manual states that even a delay in appearing at a master calendar or individual hearing may result in an in absentia order. In the accelerated setting described by immigration lawyers, that raises the stakes for notice, scheduling changes and access to counsel. AILA members said this week that reports of mega-master hearings were increasing across multiple courts. (justice.gov) Attorneys quoted in affiliate coverage said some hearings were being pulled forward from 2027, 2028 or 2029 calendars, though those accounts were described by lawyers and advocacy groups rather than confirmed in a nationwide court directive released by EOIR. ### What happens next? May 21 brought EOIR’s announcement of 77 immigration judges and five temporary immigration judges, adding personnel as the court system updates workload statistics and hearing calendars. (justice.gov) The next steps are likely to play out in immigration court notices, ICE litigation decisions and any disciplinary or fraud referrals involving attorneys. State prosecutors, meanwhile, now have a public White House request to join the anti-fraud campaign. (justice.gov) (aila.org)

Key numbers

• On May 26, 2026, the Trump White House urged state prosecutors to intensify fraud cases as DHS directed ICE lawyers to pursue allegedly false asylum filings.
• Immigration courts are now scheduling “mega masters” of 100 or more people, NPR affiliates reported, with missed hearings exposing migrants to in absentia removal orders.
• A White House fact sheet published on May 26 urged state and local prosecutors to pursue fraud cases more aggressively and said federal agencies had already expanded anti-fraud actions across health care, food assistance and pandemic loans.
• Immigration courts, meanwhile, are accelerating deportation dockets through mass hearings that can place 100 or more people before a judge at one time.

What happens next

• A White House fact sheet published on May 26 urged state and local prosecutors to pursue fraud cases more aggressively and said federal agencies had already expanded anti-fraud actions across health care, food assistance and pandemic loans.
• The White House said on May 26 that fraud in public programs will persist unless offenders face “serious prison time” and state and local prosecutors treat those cases more aggressively.
• DHS said on May 26 that ICE had been directed to take “additional actions” against “fraudulent asylum claims,” including against attorneys who file false claims.

Sources

• whitehouse.gov
• aila.org
• aila.org
• aila.org
• ideastream.org
• justice.gov
• justice.gov
• aila.org

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