Politics
Reuters
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers detain a suspect as they conduct a targeted enforcement operation in Los Angeles, California, U.S. on February 7, 2017. Picture taken on February 7, 2017.
- US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is expanding its use of the "expedited removal" deportation program, according to a notice published to the Federal Register.
- Expedited removal allows immigration officers to fast-track deportation of immigrants detained within 100 miles of a border or coastline who illegally entered the US within the previous 14 days without a hearing.
- The new rule enables officers to use expedited removal on immigrants apprehended throughout the US, and who have been there for less than two years, not two weeks.
- Notably, the new changes to the program also put the burden of proof on apprehended immigrants to show that they've lived in the US more than two years.
- The American Immigration Council and the American Civil Liberties Union quickly announced they plan to sue the Trump administration over the rule changes.
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US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is expanding its use of the "expedited removal" deportation program to more quickly deport suspected undocumented immigrants without a hearing, according to a notice published to the Federal Register.
According to the American Immigration Council, which first tweeted out the link to the Federal Register notice, the program was established in 1966 and expanded in 2017 by an executive order from President Donald Trump, and now accounts for a substantial portion of annual deportations.
Up until now, the program allowed relatively low-ranking immigration officers to fast-track deportation of immigrants detained within 100 miles of a border or coastline who illegally entered the US within the previous 14 days without a hearing before a judge in immigration court.
But according to experts with the AIC, the new rule changes expand ICE's mandate much further, allowing officers to use expedited removal on immigrants apprehended throughout the whole country - not just the 100-mile zone - and who have been in the United States for less than two years, not just two weeks.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a policy analyst at the AIC, said the changes were "massive and dangerous," adding, "now, if ICE believes someone is undocumented and has lived in the US for less than two years - with the burden on the immigrant to prove otherwise - they can deport that person within days, with almost no court review allowed."
Both the AIC and the American Civil Liberties Union quickly announced they plan to sue the Trump administration over the rule changes.
The Migration Policy Institute, another immigration-focused think tank, predicted that up to 297,000 people out of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the US entered within the last two years, and are at a new risk of being deported without a hearing.
Read more: Trump is escalating efforts to restrict immigration by ending asylum protections for most migrants
"Perhaps the biggest impact of this new [regulation] will be the requirement that immigrants 'affirmatively show' & convince an immigration officer that they have been here for more than 2 years," wrote Sarah Price, an immigration attorney and policy analyst at the Institute, on Twitter.
"Living in the shadows, unauthorized immigrants strive to exist without a document trail. Quickly convincing an immigration officer that they have been here for longer than 2 years will not be an easy task for many," she added.
A policy primer published by the AIC in 2017 argued that the "virtually unchecked authority" officers have in putting migrants through the deportation proceedings and the lack of due process carries increased risk of officers incorrectly deporting immigrants who don't fall under the criteria for expedited removal, or those who could have qualified for deportation relief from an immigration.
They also argued the fast-tracked nature of the deportation proceedings can affect asylum seekers being improperly pressured to withdraw their asylum applications and deported through expedited removal, arguing, "in essence, the law permits the immigration officer to serve both as prosecutor (charged with enforcing the law) and judge (rendering a final decision on the case)."
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