A federal appeals court granted the Trump administration the ability to continue executing expedited deportations of undocumented migrants throughout the entire U.S., rather than just near the border.
In a 2-1 decision, the majority in the three-judge panel at the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia rejected a lower court ruling that temporarily prohibited President Donald Trump’s extensive use of the expedited removal process.
The new ruling allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its federal immigration officials to deport some detainees without court hearings.
The three-judge panel’s decision marks a large victory for the second Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Trump Administration's Expansion Of The Process
During the beginning of the second Trump administration, President Donald Trump expanded the expedited removal process, making it applicable to undocumented migrants all over the U.S.
The expansion allowed immigration officials to deport unauthorized immigrants who could not prove that they had been in the U.S. for longer than two years.
Before President Trump’s recent update on the process, the speedy deportation procedure only applied to migrants who arrived in the U.S. by sea or who were caught near the border shortly after crossing.
Previous Ruling
In Aug. 2025, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ruled that the Trump administration’s updated policy on the procedure violated due process rights after the immigrant advocacy group, Make the Road New York, sued the administration.
The two appellate judges in the majority found that the directive did offer sufficient due process protection.
"Make the Road has not shown that the expedited-removal process denies its members notice and an opportunity to be heard," Trump-appointed Judges Justin Walker and Neomi Rao wrote.
An attorney for the plaintiffs in the case said that the appeals court’s ruling “undermines the fundamental principle that people receive due process when the government seeks to deport them.”
