Appeals court allows Trump to fast-track deportation process nationwide | Trump administration
A federal appeals court on Tuesday cleared the way for the Trump administration to expand an expedited deportation process that would allow for the quick deportation of immigrants living far from the border.
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 to overturn a judge’s decision in August 2025 that blocked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s move to expand who is eligible for expedited removals. This expedited deportation process has been used for nearly three decades to quickly return immigrants caught at the border.
But in January 2025, the administration expanded its scope to include noncitizens caught anywhere in the United States who cannot show they have been in the country for two years. This policy mirrored one adopted by the Trump administration in 2019 and later rescinded by the Biden administration.
After immigrant rights group Make the Road New York filed a lawsuit, US district judge Jia Cobb blocked implementation of these new policies, saying they violated the constitutional due process rights of immigrants who can be apprehended anywhere in the US.
But the D.C. circuit opposed a ruling written by Trump-appointed district judge Justin Walker that said the Trump administration was allowed to expand “expedited removal to the maximum extent authorized by Congress.”
He said immigrants are given notice that DHS will deport them on an expedited basis and have a chance to object, including by showing they have been in the U.S. continuously for two years.
“At most, the district court’s findings suggest that Congress’s expedited screening system operates quickly and with practical limitations—characteristics contemplated by the statute itself,” he wrote. “They do not show that the challenged directives deprive aliens of a meaningful opportunity to be heard.”
His view was largely joined by Trump-appointed US judge Neomi Rao, who also dissented from Barack Obama-appointed US judge Robert Wilkins. Wilkins opposed allowing immigrants to undergo expedited deportation without being asked how long they have lived in the United States, saying such a procedure is “woefully inadequate for individuals encountered in the interior of the country.”
James Percival, DHS’s general counsel, said in a statement that the decision “affirms our decision to enforce the law as written.” Lawyers for Make the Road did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
