By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration is empowering federal immigration officers to consider whether to strip temporary legal status from migrants who entered through former President Joe Biden’s signature “parole” programs in an effort to ramp up deportations to record levels, according to a memo issued on Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security memo provides guidance for the use of a fast-track deportation process that the Trump administration reinstated earlier this week, suggesting officers focus on migrants who failed to request asylum within a one-year deadline after arriving in the U.S.
The process, known as “expedited removal,” had been applied only to people apprehended within 14 days of entering the country and within 100 miles (160 km) of the border under Biden. On Tuesday, it was expanded nationwide and applied to all those who entered within two years.
President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders after returning to the White House on Monday intended to deter illegal immigration and position the U.S. to deport millions of immigrants without legal status.
The Republican president says the moves are necessary after millions of immigrants entered the U.S. under Biden, both crossing illegally and through Biden’s legal entry programs.
Some Democrats and advocates counter that Trump’s aggressive enforcement could target non-criminals, disrupt businesses and split apart families. Immigrant right group Make the Road New York sued on Wednesday to block Trump’s expansion of the fast-track deportation process.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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