§1814 Fee for aliens ordered removed in absentia

Summary

The Secretary of Homeland Security must charge a fee to any immigrant who was ordered removed in absentia under section 1229a(b)(5) and is later arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If that in-absentia order was later canceled under section 1229a(b)(5)(C), no fee applies. For fiscal year 2025 the fee is the greater of $5,000 or an amount the Secretary sets by rule. For fiscal year 2026 and each year after, the fee is last year’s fee plus an increase tied to the change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for July, compared to the same month the year before, rounded down to the nearest $10. Fifty percent of fees go to ICE’s Detention and Removal Office Fee Account and can be kept and spent by ICE without another appropriation; the rest goes to the U.S. Treasury general fund. The fee cannot be waived or reduced.