'Prompt removal': Trump DHS expands expedited deportation powers as operations ramp up
The Trump administration is significantly expanding its powers to quickly deport illegal immigrants, one of a number of rapid-fire moves made by the administration to fulfill its promise to launch a mass deportation operation.
A Department of Homeland Security notice, issued Tuesday, removes limits put on the power of expedited removal put in place in March 2022 during the Biden administration. Until the new memo, officials were limited in their use of the power to 100 miles of the border or recent arrivals.
Expedited removal allows for the rapid removal of illegal immigrants who have failed to meet the standard for asylum or have not requested asylum. The new power takes off the 2022 limits, allowing agents to remove those who are unable to prove they have lived in the U.S. for at least two years.
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"Presently, immigration officers may apply expedited removal to aliens apprehended anywhere in the United States for up to two years after the alien arrived in the United States, provided that the alien arrived by sea and the other conditions for expedited removal were satisfied," the notice, signed by acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman, said.
"In particular, the full application of expedited removal authority will enable DHS to address more effectively and efficiently the large volume of aliens who are present in the United States unlawfully, without having been admitted or paroled into the United States, and ensure the prompt removal from the United States of those not entitled to enter, remain, or be provided relief or protection from removal," it says.
The memo comes a day after DHS rescinded a Biden-era memo limiting the places in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers could arrest illegal immigrants. Another memo ordered a review of the use of humanitarian parole to admit migrants.
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That, in turn, came after a slew of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that declared a national emergency at the border, halted refugee resettlement, ordered a removal process without asylum, ordered border wall reconstruction and deployed the military to the border.
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Trump promised a "historic" mass deportation operation, and his border czar, Tom Homan, said on Tuesday that the operation was already underway.
"No, it started [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]. Teams are out there as of today," Homan said on "America’s Newsroom." "We gave them direction to prioritize public safety threats that we're looking for. We've been working up the target list."
Fox News' Bill Melugin contributed to this report.