The D.C. Circuit has allowed the Trump administration, to resume directives that could place hundreds of thousands of migrants into expedited removal proceedings, including certain Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who entered the United States under Biden-era humanitarian parole programs.

The appeals court did not decide whether the administration’s expedited-removal policies are actually lawful. Instead, it ruled that the immigrant advocacy organizations challenging the directives lacked standing because they could not show that blocking the newer directives would necessarily protect their members from expedited removal. Existing regulations dating back to 1997 may independently allow immigration officers to place some parolees into expedited removal.

So, practically, the ruling means the administration can continue using the faster deportation process while additional litigation continues. The underlying challenge to the legality of the older 1997 regulations is still pending in federal district court.