Trump’s deportation crackdown accelerated by potent court tool

Mass hearings, removal orders in absentia' - judges are wrapping up immigration cases in unprecedented numbers

The second Trump administration recorded its highest number of immigration arrests so far last month. One significant and alarming reason that is far less noticeable than armored, masked agents swaggering in the streets with weapons may be a sudden change in America's immigration courts.

Here, in recent months, accelerated mass hearings are giving people facing existential questions about their future little time to prepare for their cases, and judges are often ordering vulnerable immigrants deported without them even being in the courtroom.