In July 2017, David Inserra reported that an expedited deportation policy was being studied by DHS and that it would be based on an existing statute:

The Trump administration is today implementing a strategy that's been in planning for two years to relieve crowding at detention centers, deal with the backlog at immigration courts, and rapidly increase the tempo of deportations of illegal aliens. Predictably, the open borders crowd is appalled , and the ACLU is planning to launch a lawsuit, no doubt before a leftist judge appointed by Obama and Clinton to stymie the move. But this has been planned for two years , and it looks as though their efforts will play into the president's hands as the 2020 election approaches.

The Department of Homeland Security is weighing a new policy that would allow for the expedited deportation of illegal immigrants.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement already has this power under current law. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 gave ICE the power to expedite deportations of illegal immigrants detained anywhere in the country as long as they have been residing in the U.S. for less than two years.

That statutory authority has not been exercised for many years thanks not to President Obama, but rather his Republican predecessor:

President George W. Bush altered this policy's implementation, making it so that expedited deportations could only occur when someone was detained within 100 miles of the border less than 14 days after they arrived in the U.S. The Obama administration retained this policy.

With the publication of this notice on the Federal Register, the policy reverts to what it was before Bush made his changes based on his executive authority — the same authority Trump is now using.

There is a lot of bad reporting on the move, but Politico covers the necessary background, omitted by the likes of NPR — which doesn't mention the 1996 law that was signed by Bill Clinton, nor G.W. Bush's role in gutting it.

Ted Hesson points out at Politico:

The expansion of expedited removal could enable federal immigration officers to arrest and deport more migrants without adding to an already lengthy immigration court backlog. The courts have a soaring backlog that's now approaching 1 million cases, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. (snip) The change rolled out Monday could eliminate the ability of thousands of immigrants to contest their removal before an immigration judge. ICE encountered at least 20,570 people in the interior in fiscal 2018 who would be subject to the broader expedited process, according to the notice.

The ACLU already says it will file suit:

The American Civil Liberties Union — which has led legal battles against many of Trump's restrictive immigration policies — pledged to fight the new measure in court. "Under this unlawful plan, immigrants who have lived here for years would be deported with less due process than people get in traffic court," Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, said in a written statement.

So, the policy will face a federal judge — probably in the Ninth Circuit. But a review by the Supreme Court is already in the cards because different circuit courts already have issued conflicting decisions — which normally is a ticket to the SCOTUS:

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in March that asylum seekers have the right to seek federal judicial review of an expedited removal order. The ruling conflicted with a 2016 decision by a separate federal appeals court.

President Trump is making illegal immigration a centerpiece of his re-election bid. As is his custom, he is luring his opponents into a fight that will drive votes his way. His Democrat opponents will almost certainly support the lawsuits against a policy that enforces existing federal law. They will thus be supporting overcrowding at detention centers (or concentration camps, as they call them), backlogs in the immigration courts, and more illegals. As the case winds its way to the Supreme Court, Trump will be able to argue that he needs another four years to appoint justices should any vacancies occur.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore.