A federal appeals court handed US President Donald Trump a significant victory in his mass deportation efforts with a ruling on Tuesday, June 23, reviving his administration’s move to speed up deportations of undocumented immigrants in the United States.
The ruling from the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals allows the Trump administration to cast a wider net over who is subject to the fast-track deportation procedure known as “expedited removal.” This mechanism allows immigration authorities to remove an individual from the country without a hearing before an immigration judge.
The decision allows the administration to move forward with its plan to quickly deport undocumented immigrants residing in the United States who cannot prove they have lived in the country continuously for two years or more. A trial court had previously blocked the administration’s January 21, 2025, maneuver to expand the policy beyond its prior limits, which restricted the process to migrants apprehended within 100 miles of a land border and within 14 days of arrival.
Judges Justin Walker and Neomi Rao sided with the administration in the decision. Judge Robert Wilkins dissented from the majority.
The majority opinion rejected the challengers’ arguments that the expanded policy violated the Constitution’s right to due process.
The Department of Homeland Security’s General Counsel, James Percival, celebrated the ruling publicly, stating that the DC Circuit vindicated the administration’s decision to apply the law as written.
He noted that the department had previously limited expedited removal to 14 days despite statutory allowance for individuals who entered the country illegally within the last two years.
He added a reminder regarding the administration’s active self-deportation program, which offers a 2,600 dollar stipend for voluntary departures.
Civil rights organizations strongly criticized the judicial outcome, warning that the expansion of fast-track deportations will bypass critical legal protections. Anand Balakrishnan, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel in the case, stated that the ruling undermines fundamental due process principles when the government seeks deportation, adding that the legal team is currently exploring its next options.
