President Trump isn't wasting any time on deporting illegal immigrants. His administration has now expanded the government's deportation powers, urging officers at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to begin the removal process for people who use fraudulent documents or illegally took government benefits.
USCIS officers have always had the power to begin deportation proceedings but this new flexibility allows them to speed up the process and they no longer have to refer the cases to Homeland Security, they can begin the proceedings all by themselves.
Agency employees were told to be on the lookout for people who "apply for naturalization or other legal immigration benefit but who have criminal records, used bogus documents, lied about their applications or had abused public benefit programs."
Once somebody is picked by the USCIS they will receive a Notice to Appear, or NTA, which signals the beginning of the deportation process. Then they must go before an immigration judge, where they have a chance to appeal.
“This updated policy equips USCIS officers with clear guidance they need and deserve to support the enforcement priorities established by the president, keep our communities safe, and protect the integrity of our immigration system from those seeking to exploit it,” USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna said in announcing the changes.
Trump's administration sees this updated policy as a way to discourage people with insufficient claims to no longer apply, since they now run a greater risk of ending up in deportation proceedings.
People applying under the Obama-era DACA program are exempted from the new guidance. The “Dreamers” won’t generally have to worry about being put in deportation if their claim is rejected.