The Trump administration's expedited removal program has scored its second court victory this week.
On Tuesday, a Washington, D.C. federal appeals court ruled the Trump administration could expand expedited removal, which allows for the fast-tracked deportation of undocumented immigrants without a lengthy court hearing. And on Thursday, the Supreme Court weighed in, ruling 7-2 to bar undocumented immigrants from challenging their expedited deportation in federal court.
For the past 24 years, expedited removal has let immigration officials apprehend undocumented people found within 100 miles of a U.S. border, within 14 days of their arrival, and quickly deport them without a court proceeding. People who arrived via air and are found within two years can also be deported via expedited removal. It allows for the quick dismissal of an immigrant's asylum claim and blocks them from an immigration court proceeding, which could last years.
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Thursday's Supreme Court decision in Department of Homeland Security v. Thuraissigiam concerned whether immigrants could challenge that removal in federal court to ensure their asylum claims weren't rejected without reason. Justice Samuel Alito authored Thursday's majority opinion in deciding immigrants could not challenge the removal proceedings, with liberal Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg joining with a concurring opinion of their own.
Tuesday's decision in the appeals court allowed the Trump administration to expand expedited removal beyond its 14-day limits, letting the process be used on any immigrant who'd been in the U.S. for less than two years. The Trump administration also erased the 100-mile limit last year.
