Appeals court allows Trump to expand fast-track deportations nationwide

A federal appeals court on Tuesday gave the Trump administration the power to resume fast-track deportations across the country, not just near the southern border. The 2-1 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit cleared the way for immigration authorities to use expedited removal against noncitizens arrested anywhere in the United States if they cannot prove they have been continuously in the country for two years.

The decision matters because expedited removal bypasses a hearing before an immigration judge. That shifts deportation from the slower, court-based process used in most immigration cases to a far more compressed system, raising the stakes for families, employers, local police and courthouse operations in cities and towns far from the border.

Judge Jia Cobb of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had blocked the policy in August 2025, finding that challengers had made a strong showing that it violated due-process rights. The appeals panel, which included Trump appointees Justin R. Walker and Neomi Rao and Obama appointee Patricia A. Millett, overturned that order. Walker wrote the majority opinion.

The administration first expanded expedited removal in January 2025, broadening it from a procedure used for nearly three decades mainly for people picked up near the border or after arriving by sea. Under the new policy, anyone apprehended anywhere in the country could be placed in the process unless they could show two years of continuous presence. The Department of Homeland Security said in a January 21, 2025 notice that it was restoring expedited removal to the fullest extent authorized by Congress.

Immigrant-rights groups, including Make the Road New York, challenged the move, arguing that the policy would subject people to an unfair and error-prone system. Anand Balakrishnan, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said the administration’s push for fast-track deportations would undermine the principle of due process when the government seeks to deport people.

The ruling also carries broad practical consequences for interior enforcement. AP reported that immigration agents had begun whisking migrants away from courthouses where they appeared for immigration proceedings and removing them within days. That approach can reach people living deep inside the country, including many who have been here for more than two years and may struggle to prove continuous presence quickly enough to avoid expedited removal.

The Justice Department’s defense of the policy had already drawn skepticism from judges at an October 2025 hearing. Tuesday’s ruling gave the administration a major enforcement win and set up continued legal battles over how far the government can go in using expedited removal as a nationwide deportation tool.