Judge Blocks Trump from Deporting Illegal Immigrants Living in US Interior

A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from quickly deporting illegal migrants living in the interior of the U.S.

Washington, D.C.-based District Judge Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee, issued the ruling Friday.

Cobb argued that “prioritizing speed over all else will inevitably lead the Government to erroneously remove people.”

The Trump administration had sought to expand expedited removals, a process previously reserved for migrants caught within 100 miles of the border within 14 days of entry, to any migrant in the country illegally for less than two years.

Trump officials viewed the move as essential to enforcing immigration law and reducing illegal immigration nationwide, per the New York Post.

“The Court does not cast doubt on the constitutionality of the expedited removal statute, nor on its longstanding application at the border,” Judge Cobb wrote in a 48-page opinion.

Cobb emphasized that migrants in the interior “have a weighty liberty interest in remaining here and therefore must be afforded due process under the Fifth Amendment.”

She added that the government “did not in any way adapt its procedures to this new group of people,” creating what she described as a “skimpy process” that could wrongly remove individuals.

“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,” Cobb wrote.

She warned that the administration’s plan “would deprive you of any meaningful opportunity to disprove [allegations of unlawful entry].”

The ruling prevents the use of expedited removal for migrants granted parole status and indefinitely delays the Trump administration’s broader plan until a future court hearing.

Expedited removal allows migrants to be deported without a full court hearing. Trump sought to expand the policy late in his first term, but a federal judge initially blocked it. The policy eventually went into effect in October 2020, and 17 migrants were deported before the Biden administration ended the practice.

“This activist judge’s ruling ignores the President’s clear authorities under both Article II of the Constitution and the plain language of federal law,” a Department of Homeland Security official told The Post.

“The previous administration facilitated an invasion of our country at the southern border,” the official added. “DHS is exercising its full authority under federal law by placing illegal aliens who have been here for less than two years into expedited removal.”

The official said Trump has a “mandate to arrest and deport the worst of the worst. We have the law, facts, and common sense on our side.”

Judge Cobb is the same federal judge overseeing another high-profile case against Trump, filed by Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook. The president is attempting to remove Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud.

The ruling marks another legal hurdle for Trump’s immigration agenda, coming as the administration pushes for stricter enforcement nationwide.

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