Donald Trump has won a major legal victory on immigration after a U.S. federal appeals court in Washington ruled on Tuesday that his administration can restart a policy allowing fast‑track deportations of migrants across the country without formal immigration hearings. The decision, which reverses a lower court ruling from August, could expose potentially millions of undocumented people to rapid removal if they cannot immediately prove they have lived in the United States for at least two years.
The legal wrangling over one of the most aggressive elements of Trump's immigration agenda. The administration had sought to expand what is known as 'expedited removal' from a tool used largely at the border to a nationwide mechanism, allowing immigration officers to pick up people far from any port of entry and deport them in days, rather than months or years. Civil rights groups sued, and a district court judge blocked the expansion last summer, finding that the potential consequences for long‑term residents were severe and that the government's process was likely unlawful.
