Federal appeals court allows Trump administration to resume fast-track deportations

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled in favor of the Trump administration’s efforts to fast-track deportations for undocumented immigrants across the country through an expedited process that’s typically reserved for individuals who recently crossed the southern border.

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a 2-1 ruling, overturning a lower-court decision blocking the efforts last year.

Advocacy group Make the Roads New York sued the Office of the Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security after it expanded the expedited removal policy, making it applicable to all immigrants who could not prove they’ve been residing in the country for more than two years.

The group said the administration’s actions had violated due process rights outlined in the Constitution.

However, Judges Justin R. Walker and Neomi Rao, both Trump appointees, upheld the legality of the administration’s efforts, citing case law that says due process requires an opportunity to be heard “at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner.”

“The question is not whether some officials fail to implement a directive properly; it is whether the ‘written policy directive’ itself is unlawful…,” Walker wrote in the majority opinion.

“At most, the district court’s findings show that Congress’s expedited screening system operates quickly and with practical constraints — features the statute itself contemplates. They do not show that the challenged directives deprive aliens of a meaningful opportunity to be heard,” he added.

Rao added in her opinion that the Executive retains the “sole and unreviewable discretion” to determine which undocumented immigrants are subject to expedited removal and says Congress explicitly barred courts from reviewing those decisions.

Judge Robert L. Wilkins, an Obama appointee, dissented, arguing that immigration officers acting under the expanded expedited removal policies did not advise detainees of their rights and wrongfully deported multiple undocumented immigrants.

“The fact that the procedures implementing the 2025 Designation and Huffman Memorandum do not require (1) DHS to ask the persons when they entered the country, or (2) DHS to advise persons that expedited removal applies only if the person has not been continuously present in the country for two years, violates due process,” Wilkins wrote in his dissent.

“As the Court held in Mullane, notice must ‘be of such nature as reasonably to convey the required information’ and ‘afford a reasonable time for those interested to make their appearance,’” he added.