US judge blocks Trump from expanding rapid deportation process

WASHINGTON - A US judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from massively expanding a procedure that allows authorities to swiftly deport migrants without a court hearing, in a blow for the president's mass deportation plans.

The process, which is called "expedited removal," had previously been used to rapidly deport migrants detained near the Mexican border if they had entered the US in the previous two weeks.

However since January, the administration of Donald Trump has expanded the use of the procedure across the whole country -- and applied it to migrants who have been in the US for up to two years.

US District Judge Jia Cobb blocked this expanded use of the procedure, saying it could lead to people being "erroneously" deported without due process, including the chance to prove they have been in the US for more than two years.

"Unlike the group of people who have traditionally been subject to expedited removal -- those detained at or near the border shortly after crossing -- the group of people the Government is now subjecting to expedited removal have long since entered our country," Cobb wrote in a 48-page opinion published late Friday.

"In defending this skimpy process, the Government makes a truly startling argument: that those who entered the country illegally are entitled to no process under the Fifth Amendment, but instead must accept whatever grace Congress affords them," she added.

"Were that right, not only noncitizens, but everyone would be at risk."

The ruling by Cobb, who was appointed by former president Joe Biden, was in a case brought by Make The Road New York, a rights group supporting migrants.

The judge emphasized that the court was not casting "doubt on the constitutionality of the expedited removal statute, nor on its longstanding application at the border."

Trump campaigned to return to the White House vowing to deport millions of undocumented migrants.

But his mass deportation program has been restricted by numerous court rulings, notably on the grounds that those targeted should be able to assert their due process rights.

Cobb also quoted the Constitution, which guarantees that "no person shall be removed from the United States without opportunity, at some time, to be heard."