Saturday, January 25, 2025 - The new Donald Trump administration is issuing a new round of measures that could rapidly deport immigrants who entered the United States through recently established legal pathways, according to an Internal Department of Homeland Security memo obtained Friday, January 24.
The directive signed by the acting homeland security
secretary, Benjamine Huffman, grants Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice)
officials unprecedented authority to expedite deportations for immigrants who
entered the country with government authorization through two key Biden-era
programs.
These programs, which have allowed more than a million
immigrants to enter the country since 2023, have provided scheduling for
migrants or asylum seekers through the government-run app CBP One or temporary
legal status for up to two years through a parole program for certain
countries.
The newly reported memo instructs Ice officials to identify
and potentially rapidly deport immigrants who have been in the country for over
a year and have not yet applied for asylum, in effect sidestepping traditional
immigration court proceedings.
As the report spread, Trump’s press secretary, Karoline
Leavitt, posted on X on Friday: “Deportation flights have begun,” accompanied
by official pictures of people boarding a military-style aircraft.
Despite such flights being routine under successive
administrations, the White House has shared images of the ICE actions and
also deployed troops to the US-Mexico border late on Thursday, including US
marines arriving in California.
A DHS spokesperson defended the new policies, writing in a
statement that “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools
and churches to avoid arrest,” and that the administration “trusts law
enforcement to use common sense”.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has already
challenged the policy in federal court, with the senior staff attorney Anand
Balakrishnan characterizing the approach as a “mass deportation agenda” that
circumvents constitutional due process.
Thousands who had received or were waiting for CBP One
appointments south of the border were left devastated this week after the app
was abruptly shut down moments after Trump was sworn in, while those already in
the country using the app and who were preparing to apply for asylum may now be
in the line of fire.
Later on Friday, the Trump administration followed up,
announcing that it was expanding a fast-track deportation authority nationwide,
allowing immigration officers to deport people without appearing before a
judge.
The administration said it was expanding the use of
“expedited removal” authority so it could be used across the country, in a
notice in the Federal Register outlining the new rules.
“Expedited removal” gives enforcement agencies
broad authority to deport people without requiring them to appear before an
immigration judge. There are limited exceptions, including if they express fear
of returning home and pass an initial screening interview for asylum.
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