Donald Trump’s administration is granting Immigration and Customs Enforcement “greater authority” to prosecute immigration lawyers accused of filing “fraudulent” asylum claims.ICE lawyers have been directed to develop “anti-fraud policies” to go after immigration attorneys under a federal law targeting document fraud.“As a result of this directive, ICE attorneys have greater authority to enforce this law, including enforcement actions against immigration attorneys who file false asylum claims in an immigration court,” according to a statement from Homeland Security.The latest memo escalates the president’s campaign against legal immigration pathways and people seeking asylum in the U.S., a process that administration officials claim has been abused and corrupted by Democrats, judges and immigrants and their families — and the lawyers representing them — who are seeking humanitarian relief.“For many years, millions of illegal aliens have committed fraud in our immigration system,” according to DHS general counsel James Percival. “No place is this more rampant than in immigration court.”ICE has been instructed to develop ‘anti-fraud’ policies to prosecute immigration lawyers accused of filing fraudulent applications for asylum, escalating the Trump administration’s scrutiny into legal immigration pathways (AFP/Getty)Homeland Security says the directive builds off the president’s March 2025 executive order that alleges immigration attorneys and “powerful Big Law pro bono practices” have coached their clients to lie to government officials about their circumstances when applying for asylum.The executive order accuses asylum seekers and their lawyers of trying to “circumvent immigration policies enacted to protect our national security and deceive the immigration authorities and courts into granting them undeserved relief.”The asylum process requires applicants to be physically present in the U.S. or at a port of entry to apply. Immigrants must claim past persecution in their home country or a well-founded fear of future persecution to qualify.Shortly after taking office, the president suspended all asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border, citing an “invasion” of immigrants as pretext for denying asylum protections for people who fled persecution, violence and economic and political turmoil in their home countries.Last month, a federal appeals court blocked the president’s executive order, arguing that federal immigration law does not allow the president to develop policy “of his own making.”Percival claims it is “standard practice for immigration attorneys representing illegal aliens to assert that virtually every illegal alien is going to be persecuted or tortured in his or her home country.”“Historically, ICE has depended on the discipline of immigration judges and the enforcement of criminal fraud laws to deter this conduct, but ICE has its own tools,” he said. “Now, thanks to this directive, ICE attorneys have greater authority to enforce the law and stop the abuse of our asylum system by illegal aliens and attorneys.”Homeland Security has accused immigration lawyers of deceiving officials and judges by lying about their clients’ circumstances to get asylum applications approved (Getty)Unlike federal district courts, immigration courts and judges operate under the Justice Department at the direction of the attorney general through the Executive Office for Immigration Review.The Trump administration has waged a dramatic upheaval of the immigration court system over the last year. Dozens of judges have been fired or forced out of their jobs, ICE agents have detained hundreds of people in courthouse hallways, and judges have been instructed to throw out bond applications and summarily dismiss immigrants’ cases, making them immediately vulnerable to arrest and removal from the country.Administration officials are eager to punch through a growing immigration court backlog — which has reached more than 3 million active cases — to accelerate the president’s mass deportation efforts.ICE told Congress this year that the agency plans to deport 1 million people in 2026 and 2027 and hold at least 99,000 people on any given day in ICE detention centers.Those figures suggest the administration is increasingly targeting people who have lived in the country with legal permission. Lawyers and advocates say they become easy marks for arrest and removal because ICE already knows who and where they are.Since taking office, the president has tried to “de-legalize” tens of thousands of immigrants who were previously following immigration laws until the administration’s actions effectively canceled their status.U.S. Customs and Immigration Service, which Trump has turned into a powerful law enforcement arm for his mass deportation campaign, is now working with the Department of Justice to strip citizenship from naturalized Americans. The agency is also working on a policy change to force green card applicants to leave the country while they adjust their status.The Trump administration has also moved to cancel Temporary Protected Status for more than 1 million people, while thousands of people with pending immigration cases who showed up for their court-mandated hearings and appointments have been arrested moments after arriving.