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The Trump administration is giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials the power to quickly deport immigrants allowed into the country temporarily under the Biden-era program. , according to an internal government memo obtained by The New York Times.
The memo, signed by the head of the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday night, offers a road map for how to use a large force that is intended to meet at the southern border to quickly remove immigrants. It also appears to give officers the ability to deport immigrants from two major Biden-era programs that have allowed more than a million people to enter the country temporarily.
Those programs — an app called CBP One that immigrants can use to try to schedule a time to enter the United States, and an initiative that allows some immigrants to flee Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti — are the mainstay of the efforts by the Biden administration to discourage. illegal entry by allowing certain legal channels. Immigrant advocates also worried that the memo could apply to Afghan and Ukrainian immigrants who were brought to the United States through different programs.
The decision indicates that President Trump will try to use all aspects of the immigration enforcement apparatus to dismantle a system he has long said is illegal, and plans to target those who have slipped across the border. but even those who followed it. previously authorized path to access.
It is also sure to cause fear among many groups of migrants, who have fled desperate conditions, most of whom believed they were in the country legally and might be afraid to return. in their homeland where they are often threatened.
Both of former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s signature programs have faced sharp criticism from Republicans, including Trump administration officials, as a way to ease the transition- illegally residing under the guise of a government program. Immigrants are given assistance to stay in the country for two years under a temporary legal status called “parole.” The memo appears to allow for their deportation, even if they have expired that legal status or still have time left.
In total, around 1.4 million immigrants have entered the country through the two programs since the beginning of 2023.
A senior National Security official said on condition of anonymity that the effort hinges on Mr. Trump’s belief that Mr. Biden’s program is illegal and that the immigrants should be removed immediately. living in the country illegally.
Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and architect of Mr. Trump’s tough immigration policy, has made it clear that he opposes both programs.
“Here’s an idea: Don’t fly millions of illegal aliens from failed states thousands of miles away to small towns across the American Heartland,” Mr. Miller said on social media. of September.
News of the memo was met with immediate criticism from immigrant advocates and former Biden officials.
“In addition to raising serious legal issues, bringing people who have played the rules into summary deportation proceedings is a shocking and unprecedented betrayal,” said Tom Jawetz, senior attorney for the Department of Defense. – national in the Biden administration.
Karen Tumlin, director of the Justice Action Center, an immigrant advocacy group, said the decision was a mistake. He said he believed the memo could allow ICE officials to try to deport immigrants from Afghanistan and Ukraine.
“The American community has opened its hearts and homes to people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Afghanistan and Ukraine,” he said. “To punish people who have done everything the government has asked, many of whom have supporters in the United States, with this method of summary deportation is appalling.”
Mr. Trump ordered the agency to shut down the Biden-era program on Monday. That same day, Acting Secretary of Defense Benjamin C. Huffman issued a special memo ordering the end of all such programs. On Tuesday, the government extended deportation powers.
On Thursday, Mr. Huffman provided additional guidance to the agency about the two major decisions and how they are related.
In the memo, he ordered ICE officials to analyze immigrants who are “known” to the agency to be deported for new expedited deportations, who are avoiding immigration court, and to consider whether they should be removed from the they are of the country. The memo suggested that officers prioritize immigrants who have been in the country for more than a year without applying for asylum.
In it, the memo states that officers can, if necessary, decide to move to parole, a form of temporary legal status. Immigrants brought in under two Biden-era programs — as well as other initiatives related to Afghans and Ukrainians — are in the country under this temporary form.
If immigrants are already in the process of legal removal — which can take years — ICE officials can place them in the expedited removal program.
The memo also gives ICE officials the ability to target those who have been in the country under the temporary program but stayed more than two years for legal deportation.
The accelerated deportation authority has been challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union in federal court in Washington. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, says the decision violated federal law.
“The Trump administration wants to use this illegal policy to undo its mass deportation agenda and destroy communities,” ACLU attorney Anand Balakrishnan said in a statement. “Extending expedited removal would give Trump a fraudulent code to bypass due process and the Constitution, and we’re here to fight it again.”
