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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 15 (Friday, January 24, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8139-8140]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01720]

[[Page 8139]]

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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Office of the Secretary

Designating Aliens for Expedited Removal

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Homeland Security

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This Notice rescinds the March 21, 2022 Notice, Rescission of 
the Notice of July 23, 2019, Designation for Expedited Removal. This 
Notice also restores the scope of expedited removal to the fullest 
extent authorized by Congress.

DATES: This designation is effective on 6:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday 
January 21, 2025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph Mazarra, Office of the General 
Counsel, Department of Homeland Security, 202-282-9256.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    This Notice rescinds the March 21, 2022 Notice, Rescission of the 
Notice of July 23, 2019, Designating Aliens for Expedited Removal,\1\ 
which limited the application of expedited removal procedures to 
certain aliens under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), to the 
extent the March 21, 2022 Notice is inconsistent with this Notice. This 
Notice enables the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to 
exercise the full scope of its statutory authority to place in 
expedited removal, with limited exceptions, aliens \2\ determined to be 
inadmissible under sections 212(a)(6)(C) or (a)(7) of the INA who have 
not been admitted or paroled into the United States and who have not 
affirmatively shown, to the satisfaction of an immigration officer, 
that they have been physically present in the United States 
continuously for the two-year period immediately preceding the date of 
the determination of inadmissibility. Presently, immigration officers 
may apply expedited removal to aliens apprehended anywhere in the 
United States for up to two years after the alien arrived in the United 
States, provided that the alien arrived by sea and the other conditions 
for expedited removal were satisfied. For aliens who entered the United 
States by crossing a land border other than at a port of entry, with 
the March 21, 2022 Notice, the Secretary of DHS effectively exercised 
his discretion under the INA to limit the use of expedited removal to 
aliens apprehended by an immigration officer within 100 air miles of 
the United States international land border and who were continuously 
present in the United States for less than 14 days immediately prior to 
the date of encounter.
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    \1\ The 2022 notice was published at 87 FR 16022. The 2019 
notice was published at 84 FR 35409.
    \2\ The term ``alien'' is defined in statute as ``any person not 
a citizen or national of the United States.'' 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(3). 
Going forward, DHS will adhere to statutory language and use the 
proper terminology.
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    The INA grants the Secretary of Homeland Security the ``sole and 
unreviewable discretion'' to modify at any time the discretionary 
limits on the scope of the expedited removal designation. The Secretary 
is exercising his statutory authority through this Notice to designate 
for expedited removal the following categories of aliens not currently 
designated: (1) Aliens who did not arrive by sea, who are encountered 
anywhere in the United States more than 100 air miles from a U.S. 
international land border, and who have been continuously present in 
the United States for less than two years; and (2) aliens who did not 
arrive by sea, who are encountered within 100 air miles from a U.S. 
international land border, and who have been continuously present in 
the United States for at least 14 days but for less than two years. 
Therefore, the designation in this Notice restores the scope of 
expedited removal to the fullest extent authorized by Congress, as was 
previously established in the July 23, 2019 Notice, Designating Aliens 
for Expedited Removal. To the extent there is an ambiguity in this 
Notice, the intended effect of this notice is to apply expedited 
removal to the fullest extent authorized by statute.
    The effect of this change will be to enhance national security and 
public safety--while reducing government costs--by facilitating prompt 
immigration determinations. In particular, the full application of 
expedited removal authority will enable DHS to address more effectively 
and efficiently the large volume of aliens who are present in the 
United States unlawfully, without having been admitted or paroled into 
the United States, and ensure the prompt removal from the United States 
of those not entitled to enter, remain, or be provided relief or 
protection from removal.

II. This Notice Is Immediately Effective

    In keeping with the practice followed in announcing the previous 
designations, and consistent with implementing regulations at 8 CFR 
235.3(b)(1)(ii),\3\ this designation is effective without prior notice 
and comment or a delayed effective date. See, e.g., 67 FR 68923, 68925 
(2002 Notice); 69 FR 48877, 48880 (2004 Notice); 82 FR 4769, 4769 (2017 
elimination of exception for Cuban nationals arriving by air); 82 FR. 
4902, 4902 (2017 elimination of exception for Cuban nationals 
encountered in the United States or arriving by sea); 84 FR 35409, 
35413 (2019 Notice); 87 FR 16022, 16024 (2022 Notice).
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    \3\ 8 CFR 235.3(b)(1)(ii) (providing that ``[t]he Commissioner 
shall have the sole discretion to apply the provisions of section 
235(b)(1) of the Act, at any time, to any class of aliens described 
in this section'' and that this ``designation shall become effective 
upon publication of a notice in the Federal Register'' as well as 
that, ``if the Commissioner determines, in the exercise of 
discretion, that the delay caused by publication would adversely 
affect the interests of the United States or the effective 
enforcement of the immigration laws, the Commissioner's designation 
shall become effective immediately upon issuance, and shall be 
published in the Federal Register as soon as practicable 
thereafter'' (emphasis added)).
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    Congress explicitly authorized the Secretary to designate 
categories of aliens to whom expedited removal procedures may be 
applied. It also made clear that ``[s]uch designation shall be in the 
sole and unreviewable discretion of the [Secretary] and may be modified 
at any time.'' See INA 235(b)(1)(A)(iii)(I), 8 U.S.C. 
1225(b)(1)(A)(iii)(I)(emphasis added). Therefore, the Secretary's 
designation, within statutory bounds, is ``committed to agency 
discretion by law and . . . there is no cause of action to evaluate the 
merits of the Secretary's judgment under APA standards.'' Make the Road 
N.Y. v. Wolf, 962 F.3d 612, 633-634 (D.C. Cir. 2020). Furthermore, as 
the D.C. Circuit held, based on the statutory language allowing for 
modification of the designation ``at any time'' and in his ``sole and 
unreviewable discretion,'' the Department does not have to undertake 
the notice-and-comment rulemaking process. Id. at 635. As discussed 
above, the rulemaking procedures of the APA do not apply to this Notice 
and the expansion or contraction of a designation may be made ``at any 
time.'' Id. at 634-635 (internal quotation marks omitted).

III. Notice of Designation of Aliens Subject to Expedited Removal

    Pursuant to INA 235(b)(1)(A)(iii), 8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(A)(iii), and 
8 CFR 253.3(b)(1)(ii), I order, in my sole and unreviewable discretion, 
as follows:
    (A) The Notice titled Designating for Expedited Removal, 87 FR 
16022 (March 21, 2022), is hereby rescinded, effective immediately.
    (B) I designate for expedited removal the following categories of 
aliens not

[[Page 8140]]

currently designated: (1) Aliens who did not arrive by sea, who are 
apprehended anywhere in the United States more than 100 air miles from 
a U.S. international land border, and who have been continuously 
present in the United States for less than two years; and (2) aliens 
who did not arrive by sea, who are apprehended within 100 air miles 
from a U.S. international land border, and who have been continuously 
present in the United States for at least 14 days but for less than two 
years. Each alien placed in expedited removal under this designation 
bears the affirmative burden to show to the satisfaction of an 
immigration officer that the alien has been present in the United 
States continuously for the relevant period. This designation does not 
apply to aliens who arrive at U.S. ports of entry, because those aliens 
are already subject to expedited removal. Nor does this designation 
apply to or otherwise affect aliens who satisfy the expedited removal 
criteria set forth in any of the previous designations. See 82 FR 4902, 
69 FR 48877; 67 FR 68923.
    (C) With the exception of the March 21, 2022 Notice rescinded 
above, this Notice does not supersede, abrogate, or amend or modify any 
of the Pre-2019 Designations,\4\ which shall remain in full force and 
effect in accordance with their respective terms.
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    \4\ See, e.g., 82 FR 4902 (Jan. 17, 2017); 69 FR 48877 (Aug. 11, 
2004); 67 FR 68924 (Nov. 13, 2002).

    Signed at Washington, DC.
Benjamine C. Huffman,
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 2025-01720 Filed 1-21-25; 4:45 pm]
BILLING CODE 9110-9M-P
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