Expedited removal is a procedure established by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) that allows a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official to summarily deport (remove) an individual without a hearing before an immigration judge or review by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).
Under 8 USC 1225(b)(1), an alien (anyone who is not a U.S. citizen or national) can be subject to "expedited removal" from the United States under the following general conditions:
- The alien is inadmissible under either of the following two provisions:
- Material misrepresentations, fraud, and false claims to U.S. citizenship (a ground for deportation under INA 212(a)(6)(C) [8 USC 1182(a)(6)(C)] ; or
- Lack of valid entry documents (a ground for deportation under INA 212(a)(7) [8 USC 1182(a)(7)])
… and
- The alien is either:
- "Arriving in the United States" or
- The alien is present anywhere in the United States without having been admitted or paroled into the United States (i.e., entered the U.S. without inspection) less than two years immediately prior to the date of the determination of inadmissibility under this provision.
Since DHS can do this directly without a hearing with an immigration judge, individuals who are placed in expedited removal have less access to full due process. Deportable individuals not subject to expedited removal would have to be placed in standard removal proceedings before an immigration judge.
Background
2004-2019. From August 11, 2004 to July 22, 2019, DHS limited its expedited removal authority in the interior, by exercising that authority only when DHS officers encounter undocumented individuals within 100 air miles of the U.S. international land border, when the individuals could not establish that they had been physically present in the U.S. continuously for the 14-day period immediately prior to the date of apprehension. See policy notice published at 69 FR 48877 (August 11, 2004).
2019-2022. Effective July 23, 2019 DHS removed the 2004 limits on time and geography, and began applying its expedited removal authority to the full extent allowed by statute, i.e., individuals anywhere inside the United States who entered without inspection can be subject to expedited removal if they cannot show continuous presence in the United States for at least two years. See policy notice published at 84 FR 35409 (July 23, 2019).
2022-2025. In a Federal Register notice published and effective on March 21, 2022, the Biden administration rescinded the July 23, 2019 Trump administration policy that had sought to expand DHS's expedited removal deportation authority. Prior to the rescission notice, on September 27, 2019, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia had granted a nationwide preliminary injunction that blocked DHS from implementing the expanded expedited removal policy. Read the Court's memorandum opinion. DHS had since been following its prior expedited removal policy.
2025. A DHS Federal Register notice published at 90 FR 8139 (January 24, 2025) rescinded the Biden administration's March 21, 2022 notice and again extended the scope of expedited removal to the fullest extent authorized by the INA.