A federal appeals court on Tuesday cleared the way for the Trump administration to expand a fast-track deportation process that allows for the expedited removal of immigrants living far from the border. The 2-1 ruling by a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a district judge's August 2025 decision that had blocked the US Department of Homeland Security's move to broaden who qualifies for expedited removal.
Background of the Policy
For nearly three decades, expedited removal was used to quickly return migrants apprehended at the border. However, in January 2025, the Trump administration expanded its scope to cover non-citizens apprehended anywhere in the US who could not demonstrate they had been in the country for two years. This policy mirrored one adopted by the Trump administration in 2019, which the Biden administration later rescinded.
Legal Challenge and Ruling
The immigrant rights advocacy group Make the Road New York sued, leading US District Judge Jia Cobb to block the enforcement of the new policies in August 2025. Judge Cobb ruled that they violated the constitutional due process rights of migrants who could be apprehended anywhere in the US.
But the DC Circuit disagreed. In an opinion authored by Circuit Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, the court stated that the Trump administration was allowed to expand “expedited removal to the maximum extent allowed by Congress.” Judge Walker noted that migrants are given notice that DHS is placing them in expedited removal and receive a chance to object, including by showing that they have been continually present in the US for two years.
“At most, the district court’s findings show that Congress’s expedited screening system operates quickly and with practical constraints – features the statute itself contemplates,” Walker wrote. “They do not show that the challenged directives deprive aliens of a meaningful opportunity to be heard.”
Dissenting Opinion
Judge Walker's opinion was joined in large part by US Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, also a Trump appointee. US Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins, an appointee of Barack Obama, dissented. Wilkins objected to subjecting migrants to the fast-track deportation process without even being asked how long they have been living in the US, describing the procedure as “woefully inadequate for persons encountered in the interior of the country.”
Reactions
James Percival, DHS’s general counsel, said in a statement that the ruling “vindicated our decision to apply the law as written.” Make the Road’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
