WASHINGTON AP - A federal judge agreed on Friday to temporarily block the Trump administration's efforts to expand fast-track deportations of immigrants who legally entered the U.S. under a process known as humanitarian parole - a ruling that could benefit hundreds of thousands of people.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C., ruled that the Department of Homeland Security exceeded its statutory authority in its effort to expand "expedited removal" for many immigrants. The judge said those immigrants are facing perils that outweigh any harm from "pressing pause" on the administration's plans.
The case "presents a question of fair play" for people fleeing oppression and violence in their home countries, Cobb said in her 84-page order.
"In a world of bad options, they played by the rules," she wrote. "Now, the Government has not only closed off those pathways for new arrivals but changed the game for parolees already here, restricting their ability to seek immigration relief and subjecting them to summary removal despite statutory law prohibiting the Executive Branch from doing so."
Fast-track deportations allow immigration officers to remove somebody from the U.S. without seeing a judge first. In immigration cases, parole allows somebody applying for admission to the U.S. to enter the country without being held in detention.