WASHINGTON, DC — Approximately 622,000 unauthorized immigrants have less than two years of U.S. residence and thus could be subject to expanded fast-track deportation proceedings in the U.S. interior, according to Migration Policy Institute (MPI) analysis of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data on border crossings and grants of humanitarian parole.
Earlier this week, a federal appellate panel gave the Trump administration clearance to expand use of expedited removal to the U.S. interior, beyond the land and sea borders where it had been used since Congress created the authority in 1996. The fast-track process, which allows individual DHS officers to decide and carry out deportations in a matter of hours (unless immigrants express a fear of return, in which case additional screening is required), permits sidestepping the backlogged U.S. immigration courts, where cases can take years.
The decision this week by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals lifts a lower court injunction that blocked the use of expedited removal in the U.S. interior. In January 2025, the administration expanded the scope of expedited removals to cover non-citizens apprehended anywhere in the United States who could not quickly show that they had been in the country for two years or more.
Analyzing the most recent DHS data available, MPI estimates 622,000 unauthorized immigrants entered the country between May 2024 and May 2026. Most entered using the CBP One app or a humanitarian parole program, both of which were aspects of a Biden administration strategy to respond to record arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border. A small share crossed the northern or southern border illegally.
Beyond the 622,000, others in the unauthorized immigrant population could be placed in expedited removal, as the administration has asserted that individuals must be able to quickly prove that they have more than two years of U.S. residence. Before the expanded fast-track procedures were halted by a federal judge last year, some unauthorized immigrants with more than two years of U.S. residence were arrested and detained, and likely deported, because they could not provide documentation when requested or because they were not given the opportunity to do so.