WASHINGTON – On Friday, a federal judge issued a temporary halt on the Trump administration’s plans to rapidly deport undocumented immigrants located within the interior United States.
This decision hinders the Republican administration’s efforts to expand the federal expedited removal process, which seeks to deport some undocumented individuals quickly without presenting them before a judge first.
President Donald Trump, in his 2024 campaign, pledged to initiate a large-scale deportation plan should he be re-elected, aiming for 1 million deportations annually during a second term.
However, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, based in Washington, D.C., indicated that the expanded application of expedited removal could infringe on the due process rights of individuals.
“When defending this limited process, the Government presents an astonishing claim: that individuals who entered illegally have no Fifth Amendment rights and must accept whatever legislative grace they’re given,” Cobb stated in a 48-page opinion issued on Friday evening. “If this were accurate, not only noncitizens, but everyone would be vulnerable.”
Right after Trump took office in January, the Department of Homeland Security announced an extension in the usage of expedited removals – aimed at the rapid deportation of undocumented individuals who have been in the U.S. for less than two years.
The effort has triggered lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant rights groups.
Before the Trump administration’s push to expand such speedy deportations, expedited removal was only used for migrants who were stopped within 100 miles of the border and who had been in the U.S. for less than 14 days.
Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, didn’t question the constitutionality of the expedited removal statute, or its application at the border.
“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,” she wrote.
She added that “prioritizing speed over all else will inevitably lead the Government to erroneously remove people via this truncated process.”
Cobb earlier this month agreed to temporarily block the Trump administration’s efforts to expand fast-track deportations of immigrants who legally entered the U.S. under a process known as humanitarian parole — a ruling that could benefit hundreds of thousands of people.
In that case the judge said Homeland Security exceeded its statutory authority in its effort to expand expedited removal for many immigrants. The judge said those immigrants are facing perils that outweigh any harm from “pressing pause” on the administration’s plans.
Since May, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have positioned themselves in hallways to arrest people after judges accept government requests to dismiss deportation cases. After the arrests, the government renews deportation proceedings but under fast-track authority.
Although fast-track deportations can be put on hold by filing an asylum claim, people may be unaware of that right and, even if they are, can be swiftly removed if they fail an initial screening.
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