By Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Federal immigration officials arrested dozens of immigrants following their immigration court hearings in multiple U.S. cities this week, in operations that advocates said appeared to target people who had been in the country for less than two years.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained migrants at courthouses in New York City, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Seattle, according to family members, attorneys and news reports.
In at least some of the arrests, immigration judges had just dropped active cases against migrants, family members and advocates said. The move could potentially allow U.S. authorities to put them in a fast-track deportation process known as expedited removal.
President Donald Trump, a Republican, aims to deport record numbers of immigrants in the U.S. illegally but has complained that U.S. courts and existing laws have slowed the effort. ICE guidance issued earlier this year directed officers to consider all immigrants previously released for expedited removal if they had not affirmatively applied for asylum.
The operation showcases a new strategy to speed up deportations and bypass lengthier immigration processes.
A senior U.S. Department of Homeland Security official said the effort aimed to deport immigrants allowed to enter the U.S. under former President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
"ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been," the official said in a statement.
In Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday and Wednesday, ICE arrested several people outside the immigration court.
Among them, Geovanni Francisco and his mother from Guerrero, Mexico, who entered the country legally in 2023, after making an appointment using the Biden-era CBP One app, according to his aunt Hilda Ramirez. Their case was dismissed Wednesday morning, records show.
“They didn’t even give them a chance to gather their things,” said Ramirez, who accompanied her sister and nephew to their hearing.