Trump administration to radically expand 'Expedited removal' of immigrants, extrajudicial detention to increase

REUTERS

• The change is expected to be a massive expansion of the government's power to seize, detain, and abruptly deport.

• Previously, "expedited removal" was limited to undocumented immigrants caught within 100 miles of the U.S. border who had been in the U.S. for less than two weeks.

The Trump administration's extrajudicial 'Expedited Removal' of undocumented immigrants will be radically expanded to apply everywhere within the United States, not just within 100 miles of the Mexico border, after the new rule is published in the Federal Register on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration is expected to radically expand its power to rapidly deport undocumented immigrants who entered the United States within the past two years, using the 'Expedited Removal' fast-track deportation process which removes the involvement of any immigration judges.

From the Washington Post's ICE beat reporter Maria Sacchetti:

Officials are calling the new strategy, which will take effect immediately, a "necessary response" to the influx of Central Americans and others at the southern border. It will allow immigration authorities to quickly remove immigrants from anywhere they encounter them across the United States, and they expect the approach will help alleviate the nation's immigration-court backlog and free up space in Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails.

The stated targets of the change are people who sneaked into the United States and do not have an asylum case or immigration-court date pending. Previously, the administration's policy for "expedited removal" had been limited to migrants caught within 100 miles of the U.S. border who had been in the country for less than two weeks. The new rule would apply to immigrants anywhere in the United States who have been in the country for less than two years — adhering to a time limit included in the 1996 federal law that authorized the expedited process.

Immigrants apprehended in Iowa, Nebraska or other inland states would have to prove to immigration officials that they have been in the United States continuously for the past two years, or they could end up in an immigration jail facing quick deportation. And it could be relatively low-level immigration officers — not officers of a court — making the decisions.

President Trump has promised to deport millions of immigrants and has threatened enforcement raids targeting those in as many as 10 major cities.

"DHS has determined that the volume of illegal entries, and the attendant risks to national security and public safety presented by these illegal entries, warrants this immediate implementation of DHS's full statutory authority over expedited removal," acting homeland security secretary Kevin McAleenan said in a draft notice Monday.

"The implementation of additional measures is a necessary response to the ongoing immigration crisis," he lied. Actually, apprehensions on the US-Mexico border were down in June and July.

"DHS expects that the full use of expedited removal statutory authority will strengthen national security, diminish the number of illegal entries, and otherwise ensure the prompt removal of aliens apprehended in the United States."

McAleenan said the new rule takes effect immediately after the notice is published in the Federal Register, which is scheduled for Tuesday.