“Judicial Ruling Blocks Expansion of Rapid Deportation Policy Under Trump Administration”
A U.S. federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to dramatically expand the use of “expedited removal,” a process that allows authorities to deport migrants quickly without a court hearing. The ruling delivers a setback to former President Donald Trump’s broader mass deportation agenda.
Traditionally, expedited removal applied mainly to migrants caught near the U.S.-Mexico border who had entered the country within the past two weeks. But in January, the administration extended the policy nationwide, targeting individuals who had lived in the U.S. for up to two years.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb halted the expansion, warning it risked wrongful deportations and denied migrants the chance to prove they had established residence in the country.
“Unlike the group of people who have traditionally been subject to expedited removal those detained at or near the border shortly after crossing the group of people the Government is now subjecting to expedited removal have long since entered our country,” Cobb wrote in her 48-page opinion.
“In defending this skimpy process, the Government makes a truly startling argument: that those who entered the country illegally are entitled to no process under the Fifth Amendment, but instead must accept whatever grace Congress affords them,” she added.
“Were that right, not only noncitizens, but everyone would be at risk.”
The ruling by Cobb, who was appointed by former president Joe Biden, was in a case brought by Make The Road New York, a rights group supporting migrants.
The judge emphasised that the court was not casting “doubt on the constitutionality of the expedited removal statute, nor on its longstanding application at the border.”
Trump campaigned to return to the White House, vowing to deport millions of undocumented migrants.
But his mass deportation programme has been restricted by numerous court rulings, notably on the grounds that those targeted should be able to assert their due process rights.
Cobb also quoted the Constitution, which guarantees that “no person shall be removed from the United States without opportunity, at some time, to be heard.”
