Law facilitates the deportation of illegal immigrants to the US blocked in court

A US judge has temporarily blocked the application of a measure relaxing the criteria for the expulsion of illegal immigrants, said Saturday an organization defending the rights of immigrants.

The summary judgment forbids the Department of Homeland Security to apply this measure, which came into effect at the end of July.

It extends from fourteen days to two years the period of residence during which an undocumented immigrant may be deported without having to appear before an immigration judge.

It also extends expulsions to the entire country, whereas until then they were limited to a 100-mile (161 km) zone from the border.

Several migrant associations had lodged an appeal, saying the measure violated the 5th Amendment of the Constitution, which protects legal rights.

In its decision on Friday night, Federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, sitting in Washington, denounced an "arbitrary" measure that would cause migrants "irreparable harm".

"The Trump government wanted to expel as many foreign citizens as possible by using a deeply flawed procedure that puts foreigners, including asylum seekers, under unfair eviction," said Trina Realmuto, a lawyer with the American Immigration Council (AIC), one of the complaining associations.

According to the AIC, some illegal immigrants who may be eligible for an exemption from expulsion due to risks to their security in their country, would be deprived of pleading their case in court.

The Justice Department denounced an "abuse of authority" by the magistrate and a decision "in direct conflict" with the authority given by the Congress to the Department of Homeland Security "to act expeditiously to expel from the country the foreigners who do not have the right to reside there ".

The United States has been facing a migration crisis for over a year on its border with Mexico. Several tens of thousands of people from Central America smuggle the border every month.

Also on Friday, a California federal judge blocked an attempt by the government to reverse an agreement that prevented her from detaining children illegally in the country indefinitely.