Victory: Legal Challenge Halts Expanded Fast-Track Deportations
In a victory for due process, a federal court has stopped the nationwide expansion of fast-tracked deportations without a court hearing.
A federal district judge ordered that the administration’s new policy dramatically expanding the use of fast-track deportations must be halted while legal challenges proceed.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson recognized the gravity of expanding fast-track deportations when there are serious flaws with the expedited removal system as it existed prior to the rule change.
“This is a victory for immigrant members of LUPE who are building a better life for their families and a better nation for all of us,” said Juanita Valdez-Cox, executive director of La Unión del Pueblo Entero, in response to the ruling. “It’s terrifying to think you could be snatched away from your family and community without fair consideration of your story. With this initial victory, we struck a blow against those who want to divide us for their personal gain. Instead of expanding fast-tracked deportations, we should be expanding the hospitality and humanitarian response border communities are demonstrating toward those arriving at our southern border.”
LUPE joined Make the Road New York v. McAleenan represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, American Immigration Council, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in order to defend the rights of LUPE members who fear being unjustly placed into expedited removal proceedings.
“The court rejected the Trump administration’s illegal attempt to remove hundreds of thousands of people from the U.S. without any legal re-course,” said ACLU attorney Anand Balakrishnan, who argued the case. “This ruling recognizes the irreparable harm of this policy.”
While our lawsuit continues, this means hundreds of thousands of longtime U.S. residents will be protected from wrongful detention and deportation if they come into contact with immigration authorities and are not carrying on them documentation of their life here.
Background on Expanded Expedited Removal
Trump’s expansion of expedited removal would expand fast-tracked deportations without the right to a hearing in front of a judge to anyone who is undocumented anywhere in the U.S. and has lived in the U.S. for two years or less. It would also put people who have lived here longer than two years (including U.S. Citizens) at risk of being unjustly placed into expedited removal proceedings if they are not carrying on them documentation of their life here in an encounter with an immigration authority.
The case was filed on behalf of immigrant community organizations Make the Road New York, LUPE (La Unión del Pueblo Entero), and We Count! The policy was announced on July 23 and targeted immigrants nationwide who cannot prove they had been in the U.S. continuously for two years or more.
American Immigration Council explains the lawsuit and expedited removal on their website here.
