WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is giving immigration officials an expanded power to rapidly expel immigrants, including those who the Biden administration has temporarily granted parole authorities the country, according to an internal memo. .

A Thursday memo from US Department of Homeland Security Director Benjamin Huffman means that authorities can attempt to cancel parole for immigrants who have arrived in the country within the past two years. That parole granted those immigrants a temporary legal status.

The New York Times first reported a memo revoking parole status.

Such cancellations could potentially throw those immigrants into a rapid deportation procedure – this is now possible with separate items Policy recovery this week for 2019 It is known as rapid removal. President Donald Trump, who acted on a pledge to enact a massive deportation in 2024, oversaw the policy in his first administration.

Under rapid removal, unauthorized immigrants across the country who encountered federal enforcement must prove they have been in the United States for more than two years.

If they are unable to generate that evidence, they will be subject to fast truck deportation without appearing before an immigration judge.

The Trump administration’s policies are far more broad than former President Joe Biden’s quick removal policy. It was limited to 100 miles from the southern border and was applied to immigrants without permission that had to prove they were in the country for more than 14 days.

Immigration experts said the speed of rapid removal could put many people at risk.

“In a rapid removal… immigrants are in immigrants to show that they have been here for more than two years, have legal status, or have claims of persecution,” the lawyer said. Kathleen Bush Joseph said. at the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank studying immigration. “You can accidentally arrest or even get expelled from a legal permanent resident or a US citizen.

CBP 1 App

One parole program that could fall under Thursday’s notes is the CBP One app. Approximately 1 million reservations It was created with American officials by people seeking asylum. Those who use the app and who have been in the US less than two years may face rapid deportation.

The other is mostly an initiative. 530,000 people Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti were permitted to work and live in the United States. It can also potentially include Ukrainians who have been released from parole.

Trump has often criticised the use of the program, and on Monday he signed executive orders to end parole in Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti, shutting down one CBP app.

This means that immigrants who were part of these programs remain vulnerable to rapid removal.

Karen Tamlin, a lawyer who challenged several immigration policies during the first Trump administration, said the recent memo is “very drastic and very illegal.”

“I think it’s intended to be clearly applied to parolees (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela). I still have many questions about how they do that,” said the immigrants. said Tumlin, director of the advocacy group Justice Action Action Center. “I don’t think it’s legally valid. Certainly we don’t hesitate to challenge it in court.”

People in the parole program need to provide so much information to be approved that DHS can easily find them and prioritize removal, Bush Joseph said.

“So unlike people who live in the shadows that the government doesn’t know there is, the government knows these people exist and where they live,” she said. said.

The memo follows another directive from Huffman on Thursday to expand immigration enforcement capabilities to several law enforcement agencies within the Department of Justice, including the U.S. Former, Drug Enforcement Agency, Alcohol, Tobacco Agency, Firearms, Explosives and the Federal Agency. In prison.

Quick removal

The first Trump administration had a rapid removal in 2019, but due to legal challenges, the policy was only in place for three months after Trump’s first term was over.

What’s different this time, Bush Joseph said, is that more people have been parole within the last two years and there will be no injunction for the 2019 notice.

Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union A new lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia opposes the Trump administration’s return to policy in 2019.

Anand Balakrishnan, senior staff attorney for the ACLU Immigration Rights Project and lead lawyer in the case, said in a statement that the policy would fuel Trump’s promise of exile.

“If we expand the quick removal, Trump gives us a legitimate process and cheat code to avoid the constitution. We’re here to fight it again,” he said.

In his second term in Trump’s first week, he also expanded the ice enforcement. He revoked a memo that restricted immigration enforcement was limited in so-called sensitive areas, such as schools, places of worship, hospitals and funerals.

On Thursday, ICE officials introduced it A raid on business in Newark, New Jersey. Authorities detained citizens who were U.S. military veterans and multiple undocumented residents without generating warrants, city officials said.

Last updated at 12:36pm, February 4, 2025