The Trump administration has finalized a plan to bypass immigration courts and pursue “expedited removal” in a wider range of cases, Politico reports. A 2004 regulatory change currently limits expedited removal to immigrants who were arrested within 14 days of arrival and caught within 100 miles of a U.S. land border. However, the 1996 statute that created the process allows the speedy removal of people who cannot prove at least two years of continuous presence in the U.S.
The Department of Homeland Security is set to publish a notice in the Federal Register on Tuesday to allow the use of the faster process against people caught anywhere in the U.S., not just within the 100-mile border zone. The expansion of expedited removal could enable federal immigration officers to arrest and deport more migrants without adding to an already lengthy immigration court backlog. However, the maneuver will likely provoke legal challenges. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled in March that asylum seekers have the right to seek federal judicial review of an expedited removal order. The ruling conflicted with a 2016 decision by a separate federal appeals court.