Update: On August 29, 2025, a judge in the federal district court for the District of Columbia paused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy on expedited removal, which in effect pauses the Trump administration’s fast-track process for deportations that was established in January 2025. The judge noted that that the Trump administration had acted recklessly and is likely violating due process rights and risking wrongful detentions. This pause on the Trump administration’s actions will benefit people who have resided in the country for less than two years and are at risk of fast-tracked deportation should they be detained by immigration enforcement officials. The Trump administration will likely appeal this decision, but they will be blocked from legally using their fast-track process on an expanded group of immigrants while this happens.
On January 21, 2025, the Acting Secretary for DHS submitted a Notice to the Federal Register on expedited removal, a fast-track deportation process, and the Notice was published on January 24, 2025, in the Federal Register. The Notice took effect immediately upon publication and rescinds the Biden-era Notice on expedited removal, from March 21, 2022(Rescission of the Notice of July 23, 2019, Designation for Expedited Removal), which itself rescinded a Trump-era Notice on expedited removal. The 2022 Notice limited the application of expedited removal procedures. The new January 24 Notice purports to allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) restore the scope of expedited removal to the fullest extent authorized by Congress. Expedited removal under the second Trump administration will apply to:
(1) Aliens who did not arrive by sea, who are encountered anywhere in the United States more than 100 air miles from a U.S. international land border, and who have been continuously present in the United States for less than two years; and
(2) aliens who did not arrive by sea, who are encountered within 100 air miles from a U.S. international land border, and who have been continuously present in the United States for at least 14 days but for less than two years.