AILA Quicktake #271: DHS Announces the Expansion of Expedited Removal

7/22/19 AILA Doc. No. 19072263. Expedited Removal, Removal & Relief
AILA Associate Director of Government Relations Kate Voigt discusses DHS's announcement about a new policy, effective 7/23/19, to dramatically expand expedited removal, which will ramp up ICE's power everywhere in the United States, subjecting hundreds of thousands of people to rapid deportation.

Video Transcript

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Today, DHS Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan announced a new policy that will dramatically
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expand expedited removal to apply throughout the United States to anyone who has been in
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the U.S. for less than two years and who has not been admitted or paroled into the U.S.
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Currently, expedited removal can only be applied to individuals who have been in the country
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less than 14 days who are apprehended within 100 miles of the U.S. border,
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which is already a large part of the country.
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The new policy will take effect on July 23, 2019.
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Expedited removal gives unilateral authority to immigration officers to deport
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someone from this country, enabling the officer to bypass
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the immigration court system entirely and effectuate a removal.
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The use of expedited removal has expanded since it was created in 1996.
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Today, more than 80% of all removals are done
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without the person ever getting a fair day in court.
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Now, DHS seeks to apply that power nationwide,
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subjecting hundreds of thousands of people to rapid deportation.
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The administration’s answer to the humanitarian situation
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at our southern border should be to improve the immigration court system
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which is buckling under a backlog of 900,000 cases
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and is being stripped of its own authority to control its docket.
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Instead DHS is eliminating the judges from the process altogether.
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That is not the kind of due process envisioned in the Constitution.
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DHS is also attempting to implement this massive power grab
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without any transparency or public accountability.
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The new policy will be published and effective without giving the public
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a meaningful opportunity to comment on it.
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Needless to say, AILA will be pushing back against this unjustifiable expansion of power.
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And luckily, our close allies at the American Immigration Council
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are already planning to file a lawsuit.
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Stay tuned for more information on how you can join the fight.

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