Overview

• U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb issued a temporary injunction on Friday halting the administration’s use of the rapid-removal statute.
• The order bars the government from expelling any immigrant by relying on that law while the injunction remains in place.
• Cobb’s 48-page opinion does not question expedited removal as used near the southern border for recent entrants but objects to its extension to interior populations.
• The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Make The Road New York, alleging violations of the Fifth Amendment and federal immigration and administrative laws.
• The judge criticized the policy for prioritizing speed and warned it would “inevitably” cause erroneous deportations, rejecting arguments that undocumented entrants lack due-process protections.