U.S. expands expedited deportations beyond border areas as part of Trump crackdown

Washington — The Trump administration on Tuesday dramatically broadened the scope of expedited deportations, enacting a nationwide expansion of an immigration policy known as “expedited removal” that was previously limited to areas close to U.S. borders.

Expedited removal allows U.S. immigration officials to deport migrants who lack proper documents through a streamlined process that bypasses the lengthy and massively backlogged immigration court system. If those identified for expedited removal do not request asylum or fail to establish they may have a legitimate asylum case, they can be expeditiously deported, without an opportunity to see an immigration judge.

Before Tuesday’s change, federal immigration officials were only allowed to use expedited removal on unauthorized immigrants detained within 100 miles of an international border and who had been in the U.S. for less than two weeks.

Now, these expedited deportations will apply to unauthorized immigrants anywhere in the U.S. who can’t prove they have been in the country for more than two years. The move by the Department of Homeland Security revived a first Trump administration policy that the Biden administration had discontinued. It took effect at 6 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday.

In less than 48 hours since returning to the Oval Office, President Trump has already taken a flurry of actions, some of them unprecedented in nature, to launch a multi-faced crackdown on immigration. 

Mr. Trump shut down access to the U.S. asylum system using extraordinary presidential powers; declared a national emergency to dispatch more troops to the southern border; froze the refugee admissions programs; and directed federal agencies to deny birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally or on temporary visas. The latter action has already triggered lawsuits from Democratic-led states and pro-immigrant groups.

The president has also laid the foundations for his promised mass deportations, directing federal officials to expand immigration detention facilities and allow local law enforcement authorities to arrest and detain unauthorized immigrants. His administration rescinded Biden-era guidelines that barred deportation officers from making arrests at so-called “sensitive locations,” which include schools and churches.

Democratic-led cities with “sanctuary” policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration agencies, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have been bracing for an increase in federal operations targeting unauthorized immigrants in their communities.

Trump administration officials have said that while those with criminal histories will be prioritized for arrest, unauthorized immigrants with clean records are also at risk of being detained — a major shift from Biden administration policy.