Donald Trump (File – AP)
A US federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from expanding the use of expedited removal – a fast-track deportation process for undocumented migrants detained in the interior of the country – citing due process concerns, NPR reported.The ruling, by district judge Jia Cobb in Washington, DC, marks a setback to the administration’s efforts to broaden the statute, which allows migrants to be deported without appearing before a judge. President Donald Trump, during his 2024 campaign, had pledged to carry out up to one million deportations annually in his second term.In a 48-page opinion, Judge Cobb noted that the administration’s approach risked eroding constitutional protections.“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. Were that right, not only noncitizens, but everyone would be at risk,” she wrote.Expedited removal has traditionally been applied only to migrants stopped within 100 miles of the border who had been in the US for less than 14 days. The department of homeland security, shortly after Trump took office in January, announced plans to expand its use to cover those present in the US for under two years.The move has drawn legal challenges from immigrant rights groups and the American civil liberties union. Earlier this month, Cobb had also blocked the administration’s attempt to expand expedited removal to immigrants who legally entered under humanitarian parole, ruling that Homeland Security had exceeded its authority.While Cobb did not question the constitutionality of expedited removal at the border, she underscored that its wider application must include due process safeguards.“It merely holds that in applying the statute to a huge group of people living in the interior of the country who have not previously been subject to expedited removal, the government must afford them due process,” her order stated.According to NPR, the administration’s expanded use of the measure has already seen US immigration and customs enforcement officers making arrests in court hallways, later placing migrants into fast-track deportation proceedings. Critics argue that many affected individuals may not know they can pause the process by seeking asylum, leaving them at risk of swift removal.
