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US judge rejects Trump policy of expanded deportation
WASHINGTON, Sept 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A US federal judge has dealt a new
blow to President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration efforts, blocking a measure
meant to relax the criteria for deporting undocumented migrants.
The ruling concerns a policy known as expedited removal under which
migrants previously found within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of the border
within 14 days of their arrival were deported without appearing before an
immigration judge.
In July, the Department of Homeland Security implemented a policy to expand
the measure to include immigrants found within two years of arrival and
located anywhere in the United States.
The decision issued late Friday evening by US District Court Judge Ketanji
Brown Jackson prohibits the DHS from applying the expanded criteria.
The move, she said, would leave those affected by the expansion
“irreparably harmed.”
“The Trump administration intended to deport as many noncitizens as
possible using a process that is profoundly flawed and puts noncitizens,
including asylum-seekers, at serious risk of wrongful deportation,” said
Trina Realmuto, directing attorney of the American Immigration Council (AIC)
which was one of the plaintiffs in the case.
According to the AIC, some undocumented migrants potentially exempt from
deportation due to security risks in their country of origin would be denied
due process under the expansion.
On Saturday, the White House issued a statement calling the struck-down
expansion a tool that is “vital to addressing the many aliens in the United
States who have no right to remain here.” “Once again, a single district
judge has suspended application of Federal law nationwide-removing whole
classes of illegal aliens from legal accountability,” White House Press
Secretary Stephanie Grisham said.
A spokesperson for the US Department of Justice said the decision “squarely
conflicts” with authority granted to the Department of Homeland Security to
act quickly to “remove from the country aliens who have no right to be here.”
Also Friday, a federal judge in California rejected an attempt by the
administration to reverse an agreement preventing the indefinite detention of
undocumented children.
The United States is facing a migration crisis on its southern border with
Mexico, where tens of thousands of people from Central America cross into the
United States every month.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0915 hr