Judge Temporarily Halts Trump’s Swift Deportation Plan
In a significant legal development, a federal judge has temporarily halted the Trump administration’s plan to expedite the deportation process for undocumented migrants apprehended within the United States. This decision represents a challenge to the administration’s goal of expanding the use of the expedited removal statute, which allows for the quick deportation of some undocumented individuals without a court appearance.
President Donald Trump had pledged during his 2024 campaign to significantly ramp up deportation efforts, aiming for 1 million deportations annually if reelected. However, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C., expressed concerns over the potential violation of due process rights associated with the administration’s approach.
“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,” Judge Cobb wrote in her 48-page opinion. “Were that right, not only noncitizens, but everyone would be at risk.”
Shortly after President Trump took office in January, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to broaden the expedited removal process, initially reserved for migrants detained within 100 miles of the border and who had been in the U.S. less than 14 days, to include those present in the country for up to two years.
This strategy has prompted legal challenges from the American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant advocacy groups, who argue that it undermines due process rights. Judge Cobb, a Biden appointee, emphasized that while the constitutionality of the expedited removal statute itself is not in question, its application to a broad group of people living in the interior demands adherence to due process.
In a related ruling earlier this month, Judge Cobb temporarily blocked the administration’s attempt to expand expedited removals of immigrants legally entering the U.S. under humanitarian parole, citing overreach by the Department of Homeland Security.
Since May, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have increased their presence in hallways to detain individuals after judges dismiss deportation cases, only to renew proceedings under expedited authority. Although those facing expedited removal can halt the process by filing an asylum claim, awareness of this right is limited, and failing an initial screening can lead to rapid deportation.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Response Team members demonstrate how the team enters a residence in the pursuit of a wanted subject at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) in Brunswick, Ga. on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. Fran Ruchalski/AP
This article was originally written by www.npr.org
