‘Fast-track removal’: Trump DHS expands expedited deportation authority as operations ramp up
Trump administration significantly expanding its authority to quickly deport illegal immigrants, one of a series of swift moves the administration has taken to fulfill its promise to launch a mass deportation operation.
The Department of Homeland Security’s notice, released Tuesday, removes restrictions placed on the expedited removal authority put in place in March 2022 during the Biden administration. Until the new memorandum, officers were restricted from using electricity within 100 miles of the border or recent arrivals.
Expedited removal allows for the quick removal of illegal immigrants who have not met the standard for asylum or who have not applied for asylum. The new authority lifts the restrictions in 2022, allowing agents to remove those who cannot prove they have lived in the US for at least two years.
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Asylum seekers wait for their CBP One appointments before crossing the El Chaparral border port in Tijuana, Mexico on January 20, 2025. (Carlos Moreno/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“Currently, immigration officials can apply expedited removal to aliens apprehended anywhere in the United States up to two years after the alien arrived in the United States, provided the alien arrived by sea and other conditions for expedited removal are met,” the notice signed by Acting DHS Secretary Benjamin Huffman said.
“Specifically, full implementation of expedited removal authority will allow DHS to more efficiently and effectively address the large volume of aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States without being admitted or paroled to the United States, and to ensure the prompt removal from the United States of those who have no right to enter, remain or receive assistance or protection from expulsion,” it said.
The letter arrives a day later DHS revoked a Biden-era memo limiting the places where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers can arrest illegal immigrants. The second memorandum ordered a review of the use of humanitarian parole for the acceptance of migrants.
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Tom Homan speaks at the Republican National Convention on July 17, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
This, in turn, followed a series of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that declared a national state of emergency at the border, halted refugee resettlement, ordered the process of non-asylum removal, ordered the reconstruction of the border wall, and deployed the military to the border.
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Trump promised a “historic” mass deportation operation, and his border czar, Tom Homanhe said on Tuesday that the operation was already underway.
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“No, it has started [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]. The teams are out as of today,” Homan told “America’s Newsroom.” “We’ve instructed them to prioritize the public safety threats we’re looking for. We worked on a list of goals.”
Bill Melugin of Fox News contributed to this report.
