## Trump Administration Expands Deportation Powers, Sparking Legal Challenges
A January 2025 internal memo reveals the Trump administration is significantly expanding the authority of immigration officers to deport immigrants, encompassing those temporarily granted entry under parole programs by the previous Biden administration. The memo, issued by Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Benjamine Huffman, allows officials to cancel parole status for immigrants who arrived within the past two years. This action effectively revokes their temporary legal status and thrusts them into expedited removal proceedings.
The reinstatement of a 2019 Trump-era policy, known as expedited removal, facilitates these rapid deportations. This policy mandates that immigrants without authorization, encountered anywhere in the country, prove continuous U.S. residence exceeding two years. Failure to provide such proof results in immediate deportation, bypassing an immigration judge hearing. This represents a substantial broadening compared to the Biden administration’s expedited removal policy, which was geographically limited to within 100 miles of the southern border and applied only to those unable to prove 14 days of continuous residency.
Immigration experts express deep concern about the potential for error and abuse inherent in the expedited removal process. Kathleen Bush-Joseph of the Migration Policy Institute highlights the significant burden placed on immigrants to prove their eligibility to remain, a process that could inadvertently target even lawful permanent residents or U.S. citizens due to its accelerated nature.
The memo’s impact extends to several key parole programs. The CBP One app, utilized by nearly one million asylum seekers, potentially exposes those with less than two years in the U.S. to swift deportation. Similarly, the initiative offering work permits and residency to approximately 530,000 individuals from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Haiti, along with a separate program benefiting Ukrainian parolees, places these populations at risk. President Trump’s recent executive order ending parole for the first four nations and shutting down the CBP One app further exacerbates this vulnerability.
Legal challenges to the administration’s actions are already underway. Attorney Karen Tumlin, director of the Justice Action Center, characterizes the memo as “very sweeping and quite unlawful,” vowing to challenge its legality in court. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has also filed a lawsuit contesting the reinstated 2019 policy, arguing that it provides a mechanism to circumvent due process and constitutional rights, thereby facilitating mass deportations.
Beyond the expedited removal policy, the Trump administration has concurrently expanded ICE enforcement, rescinding a memo that previously restricted enforcement in “sensitive locations” such as schools, hospitals, and places of worship. This broader approach is underscored by an ICE raid in Newark, New Jersey, where a U.S. military veteran and several undocumented immigrants were detained without a warrant, according to city officials. The confluence of these actions marks a significant shift in U.S. immigration enforcement policy, raising concerns about due process and the potential for widespread human rights violations.