Court Rejects Trump's Bid to Widen Fast-Track Deportation Powers
A federal appeals court has dealt a significant blow to Donald Trump's immigration agenda, refusing to permit the expansion of a fast-track deportation process that would have allowed authorities to rapidly remove migrants from anywhere within the United States.
The decision, delivered on Saturday by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, means a lower court's ruling blocking the policy will remain in effect for now.
Judges Cite 'Serious Risks' to Migrant Rights
In a 2-1 ruling, the appellate panel declined to suspend the core part of a decision made by US District Judge Jia Cobb on 29 August. Judge Cobb had found that the administration's policies violated the constitutional due process rights of immigrants under the Fifth Amendment.
The judges who formed the majority, Patricia Millett and J Michelle Childs, both appointed by Democratic presidents, stated the administration was unlikely to succeed in proving its procedures adequately protected these rights. They highlighted the "serious risks of erroneous summary removal" if the policy were implemented nationwide.
The ruling prevents the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing rules that would have subjected immigrants to expedited removal if the government believed they had been in the country for less than two years, regardless of where they were apprehended.
A Contentious Legal Battle Over Immigration Policy
Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, dissented from the majority opinion, characterising the lower court's injunction as "impermissible judicial interference" with executive authority.
While largely upholding Judge Cobb's order, the appeals court did grant a partial stay concerning procedures for assessing whether someone has a credible fear of persecution in their home country.
This policy mirrors a similar 2019 effort by the Trump administration, which was later rescinded by President Joe Biden and challenged in court by the immigrant rights group Make the Road New York.
For nearly three decades, the expedited removal process has been applied primarily at the border. The Trump administration's January expansion aimed to apply it across the entire US interior. The administration's substantive appeal is scheduled to be heard on 9 December.
