US Judge Blocks Donald Trump’s Expanded Fast-Track Deportation Policy, Citing Constitutional Violations
Ruling halts plan to swiftly expel migrants, with court finding due process rights under the Fifth Amendment were ignored.
Staff WriterSep 2, 2025, 7:05 AMA federal judge blocked Trump administration policies designed to broaden fast-track deportations, ruling that they violate the constitutional due process rights of migrants who could be apprehended anywhere in the country.
US District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C., sided with an immigrant rights group in halting two policies introduced in January that exposed millions of additional migrants to rapid expulsion.
The expedited removal process, in place for nearly three decades, has traditionally been used to quickly deport migrants apprehended near the border. But under the Trump administration’s expanded rule, non-citizens arrested anywhere in the United States who could not prove they had been living in the country for at least two years were made subject to immediate deportation.
This approach mirrored a 2019 Trump-era policy later rescinded by President Joe Biden’s administration. Immigration authorities, however, have recently applied the new powers “aggressively,” Cobb noted.
Unlike migrants caught soon after crossing the border, Cobb said, many of those now targeted had been residing in the United States for a considerable period. “That means they have a weighty liberty interest in remaining here and therefore must be afforded due process under the Fifth Amendment,” she wrote. She added that by “exponentially” expanding the category of people eligible for expedited removal without adjusting safeguards, the government risked wrongful deportations.
Cobb, a Biden appointee, criticized the truncated procedures as “skimpy,” warning that “prioritising speed over all else will inevitably lead the Government to erroneously remove people.”
The administration had requested that Cobb delay enforcement of her ruling to allow time for an appeal, but she declined.
A Department of Homeland Security official defended the policy, saying the court’s ruling disregarded Trump’s legal authority and mandate “to arrest and deport the worst of the worst.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the plaintiffs through the advocacy group Make the Road New York, did not comment immediately.
Earlier this month, Judge Cobb also blocked a Trump administration attempt to fast-track the deportation of hundreds of thousands of migrants paroled into the US under Biden’s humanitarian entry programs.
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