Immigration officers intensify arrests in courthouse hallways on a fast track to deportation
June 11, 2025
Large-scale arrests outside immigration courts have unleashed fear among asylum-seekers and immigrants who are accustomed to remaining free while judges grind through a backlog of 3.6 million cases. Now they must consider whether to show up and possibly be detained and deported, or skip their hearings and lose their bids to remain in the country by default. The arrests follow a pattern. A judge will grant a government lawyer’s request to dismiss deportation proceedings. The person is then arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers moments later in the hallway and put on fast-track deportation, called “expedited removal.”
