The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has sued senior officials in the Trump administration over a new policy that expedites the deportation of illegal immigrants from the United States.
“The Administration’s decision to expand expedited removal to a vast group of noncitizens living anywhere in the United States disregards nearly three decades of experience showing that the expedited removal process, even when used at the border for new arrivals, is rife with errors and results in widespread violations of individuals’ legal rights,” the complaint states. “The Rule is illegal.”
The DHS rule, which went into effect on Jan. 21, reinstates a 2019 directive allowing rapid deportation of illegal immigrants who cannot prove at least two years of continuous presence in the United States and who are within 100 miles of the border.
“The full application of expedited removal authority will enable DHS to address more effectively and efficiently the large volume of aliens who are present in the United States unlawfully, without having been admitted or paroled into the United States, and ensure the prompt removal from the United States of those not entitled to enter, remain, or be provided relief or protection from removal,” the DHS notice states.
The new DHS rule follows a series of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump, including declaring a border emergency, ending birthright citizenship, pausing refugee admissions, deploying troops to the border, and directing border wall construction to restart.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters after Trump signed the order that border security is the president’s “number one priority.”
The ACLU, which was joined it its lawsuit by immigrant advocate group Make the Road New York, alleges violations of the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act.
“Everyone in this country is entitled to due process—it is one of the core tenets of our government,“ Arlenis Morel, co-executive director of Make the Road New York, said in a statement. ”To fast track the deportation of people who have entered this country to find safety and build a life for themselves and their families, without even a chance to see a judge, will only sow fear in immigrant communities and increase the terror of being separated from loved ones forever.”
According to the complaint, the DHS rule means that low-level department officers can now immediately and without due process enforce expedited removal within the U.S. interior without considering the family or community ties of the individual being deported. Further, it claims that such individuals bear the burden of proving that they should not be subject to a fast-track removal, but they are given limited time and opportunity to do so.
“As a result, countless noncitizens will likely have expedited removal erroneously applied to them,” the complaint alleges.
Anand Balakrishnan, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel on the case, said the policy is an unconstitutional attempt to circumvent due process.
“The Trump administration wants to use this illegal policy to fuel its mass deportation agenda and rip communities apart,” Balakrishnan said in a statement. “Expanding expedited removal would give Trump a cheat code to circumvent due process and the Constitution, and we are here to fight it.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit by publication time.
