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A plane carrying Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States approaches landing at Simon Bolivar International Airport, in Maiquetia, Venezuela, on Jan. 19, 2026. (REUTERS/Marco Bello)
Trump administration can expand fast-track deportation process, appeals court rules
Listen to this articleA federal appeals court on Tuesday cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s administration to expand a fast-track deportation process that would allow for the expedited removal of migrants who are living far away from the border.
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 to overturn a decision by a judge who in August 2025 blocked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security‘s move to expand who qualifies for expedited removal.
That expedited removal process has for nearly three decades been used to quickly return migrants apprehended at the border. But in January 2025, the administration expanded its scope to cover non-citizens apprehended anywhere in the United States who could not show they had been in the country for two years.
After the immigrant rights advocacy group Make the Road New York sued, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb blocked the enforcement of those new policies, saying they violate the constitutional due process rights of migrants who could be apprehended anywhere in the United States.
But the D.C. Circuit disagreed in a ruling authored by U.S. Circuit Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, who said the Trump administration was allowed to expand “expedited removal to the maximum extent allowed by Congress.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston.
