Federal judge halts Trump's nationwide fast-track deportation expansion

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's effort to expand fast-track deportations throughout the United States. Previously, expedited removal only applied to unauthorized migrants caught within 100 miles of international borders who had been in the country for less than two weeks.

The administration's January directive aimed to extend this policy to cover migrants anywhere in the US who had been present for up to two years. Under expedited removal, immigration officials can rapidly deport certain migrants without allowing them to appear before an immigration judge, unless they claim asylum and pass an initial screening. Judge Jia Cobb ruled that the expanded policy potentially violates migrants' due process rights.

She emphasized that while the original expedited removal statute remains constitutional, applying it to a much larger population living in the country's interior requires additional procedural safeguards. The judge indefinitely postponed the expansion, determining that immigrant rights advocates had demonstrated strong legal grounds for their challenge.

This ruling significantly undermines the Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement strategy and will likely face appeal by the Department of Homeland Security.