US President Donald Trump’s immigration policy suffered a major legal setback when a US federal judge ordered a halt to the expansion of a policy of expedited deportation of illegal immigrants. The decision is being seen as a serious obstacle to Trump’s massive mass deportation plan and highlights how important the right to judicial process is in immigration cases.
On Friday, a US judge blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to expand the scope of the process that allows authorities to quickly deport migrants without a judicial hearing. The move is another setback to the president’s mass deportation policy, as reported by NDTV.
The process in question, called “expedited deportation,” was previously used only on migrants who were caught near the Mexican border and who had entered the US within the past two weeks.
But from January, the Trump administration began implementing the policy across the country and it was also applied to migrants who had lived in the US for two years. US District Judge Zia Cobb called the expansion illegal, saying it could lead to erroneous deportations of people who do not have the full benefit of the judicial process, such as the opportunity to prove they have been in the US for more than two years, as reported by NDTV.
“Traditionally, the expedited deportation process has applied to people recently apprehended at or near the border, but the people it now faces have been inside the country for a long time,” Cobb wrote in her 48-page decision.
“The government has advanced a startling rationale for this incomplete process: that those who entered the country illegally should receive no due process under the Fifth Amendment but should accept only as much immunity as Congress is willing to grant. If that rationale is accepted, the threat is not limited to noncitizens, but everyone will be vulnerable,” she added.
The ruling was delivered by Zia Cobb, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden. The case was filed by an immigrant rights group called ‘Make the Road New York’.
The judge clarified that the court is not questioning the “constitutional validity of the rapid deportation law or its long-standing use at the border”.
It is worth noting that Trump had promised in his election campaign that he would expel millions of illegal immigrants from America. However, his policy has been repeatedly challenged in the courts, especially on the grounds that the targeted individuals should have an opportunity to present their case in the legal process.
Zia Cobb also cited the Constitution in her decision and said, “No person shall be deported from the United States unless he has had an opportunity to present his case at some time.”
