Appeals Court Allows Trump's Fast-Track Deportation Expansion

A federal appeals court ruled that President Trump's administration can expand its fast-track deportation process nationwide, allowing for expedited removal of immigrants who cannot prove they have lived in the US for two years. The ruling overturns a lower court decision from August 2025 that had blocked this expansion.

The policy allows DHS to quickly remove non-citizens apprehended anywhere in the country if they can't show continuous residency of at least two years. This expands what was previously used primarily for migrants near the border, according to The Guardian and Reuters. The ruling by a 2-1 decision from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb's decision that had blocked these new policies on due process grounds.

Judge Justin Walker, who authored the majority opinion and was appointed by Trump, stated that the administration can expand 'expedited removal to the maximum extent allowed by Congress.' He argued migrants receive notice of expedited removal proceedings and an opportunity to object. According to The Guardian, Judge Robert Wilkins (an Obama appointee), objected that this procedure is inadequate for those encountered in the country's interior.

Immigrant rights groups like Make the Road New York had challenged the policy. DHS General Counsel James Percival praised the ruling as vindicating their decision to apply 'the law as written,' per The Guardian and Fox News. Meanwhile, a federal judge in California issued a separate ruling banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from making arrests inside immigration courts nationwide. Judge P. Casey Pitts of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California called the practice 'arbitrary and capricious,' according to The Los Angeles Times.

Judge Pitts, nominated by President Biden, highlighted that courthouse arrests have a chilling effect on noncitizens' attendance at court proceedings. James Percival, the general counsel for DHS, criticized the ruling as 'naked judicial activism in service of an anti-American, open borders agenda,' per The Los Angeles Times. The ruling was issued as part of a class-action lawsuit filed by noncitizens challenging ICE’s recent practice of making arrests at immigration courthouses and detaining people for extended periods.

In a related development, the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to let it detain people arrested in its immigration crackdown without a chance to seek bond, even if they have lived in the country for years. The administration made this request in a filing asking the court to overturn a May decision by a federal appeals court that had rejected its reinterpretation of a decades-old immigration law underlying its mass detention policy.

The administration argues that detaining non-citizens while their removal proceedings unfold prevents them from evading hearings and helps ensure their removal. The Department of Homeland Security has taken the position that non-citizens already residing in the United States qualify as 'applicants for admission' subject to mandatory detention, making them ineligible for bond hearings under federal immigration law.