A federal appeals court on Tuesday allowed the administration of US President
to expand fast-track deportations throughout the US, marking a win for the president’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
The 2-1 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit allows the Department of Homeland Security to expand expedited removal, enabling immigration officials to deport certain detainees without court hearings.
Previously, expedited removal applied only to regions near the border and to recent arrivals unable to prove they had lived in the US for more than two weeks.
Under the new policy, which was drafted during the first week of Trump’s second term in Jan. 2025, the authority now extends nationwide and can be used against unauthorized immigrants who cannot prove that they have been continuous residents for two years or more.
A federal judge blocked the expansion in August 2025, finding it violated due process rights in a lawsuit brought by Make the Road New York. On Tuesday, the appellate panel overturned that decision.
The majority, Judges Justin Walker and Neomi Rao, ruled the policy provides adequate due process protections. “Make the Road has not shown that the expedited-removal process denies its members notice and an opportunity to be heard,” they wrote.
Judge Robert Wilkins dissented, arguing the policy undermines due process because it does not require officers to ask migrants how long they have been in the country or inform them of the two-year requirement.
“Absent such knowledge, the noncitizen is simply left to hope that the immigration officer will conclude that they have met their burden of demonstrating two-years of continuous presence at the initial screening interview,” Wilkins wrote.
