American Immigration from Thailand: Expedited Removal

There seems to be a recent trend of expedited removals of aliens attempting to enter the US on tourist visas. The following post is a brief summary of the situation.

Recently, my colleagues and I have noticed a major upsurge in the number of expedited removals from the United States. More and more, it seems that non-immigrant aliens are being turned away at US ports of entry on the basis that they are undisclosed intending immigrants. This may not be the result of any general policy change on the part of Immigration officers at the Customs and Border Protection Service or at the Department of Homeland Security. However, it does provide this author an opportunity to discuss expedited removal and how it can affect a loved one’s chances of subsequently entering the United States of America.

In the cases we have recently seen, the foreign national entrant was detained at the border while attempting to enter the USA on a tourist visa. In these cases, the foreign national was a girlfriend, wife, fiancee, or loved one of a US Citizen. Subsequent to questioning regarding travel intentions, some prospective entrants were subjected to body searches and lengthy detainment while CBP decided what ought to be done with them. In past cases, prospective entrants were provided an opportunity to withdraw their request for admission and go home. Currently, there are increasing numbers of cases where CBP officers find an intending entrant inadmissible and uses expedited removal proceedings to deny them access to the USA. This situation leads to the possibility of an alien loved one being barred from the US for a minimum of 5 years.

How can it be that a Customs and Border Protection officer can turn away someone with a validly issued visa? Under Section 302 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), which came into effect April 1,1997 and amended Section 235(b) of the INA, the Customs and Border Protection service was granted the authority to impose expedited removal upon those foreign nationals attempting to enter the USA. For the purposes of this article, the most often cited reason for expedited removal of foreign loved ones attempting to enter the US on tourist visas occurs in a case where the Customs and Border Protection official deems an alien with a tourist visa to be an “immigrant who is not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa, reentry permit, border crossing identification card, or other valid entry document required by [The Immigration and Nationality Act], and a valid unexpired passport, or other suitable travel document, or document of identity and nationality if such document is required under the regulations.” [212(a)(7)(i)(1)]

Essentially, CBP seems to be using expedited removal when they believe an alien is secretly an intending immigrant using a tourist visa to quickly enter the United States and adjust status to permanent residence. This scenario could be avoided if a foreign fiancee uses a K1 visa to enter the USA. In cases involving a foreign spouse, a K3 visa or an Immigrant visa could be used to forestall expedited removal on the aforementioned grounds.