Courts and Civil Rights

Two Minnesota-based legal service providers have filed a federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., accusing the Trump administration’s Justice Department and its Executive Office for Immigration Review of secretly fast‑tracking deportation cases for Somali immigrants through a special docket handled by a "handpicked" subset of immigration judges. Filed Tuesday, the complaint names Attorney General Pam Bondi and EOIR Director Daren Margolin and alleges that, beginning in January, hearing dates for Somali asylum seekers were abruptly moved up to as little as one month’s notice — far earlier than the usual year‑plus scheduling — while being steered to judges with historically high removal rates and low asylum‑grant rates. The suit claims this Somali‑only "scheduling blitz" violates due process, equal protection, and free‑speech rights and runs afoul of the Administrative Procedure Act’s ban on arbitrary and capricious agency policies, arguing that compressed timelines rob attorneys of the 30 days they need to submit evidence and effectively prepare cases. A DOJ spokesperson denies any fast‑tracking policy exists and says federal law already requires asylum cases to be decided within 180 days, but plaintiffs’ attorney Kelsey Hines says 97% of her Somali clients have had their cases rapidly advanced while not a single non‑Somali case has, calling it an "undeniably targeted" policy. The case, brought with the backing of national legal group Democracy Forward, highlights wider concerns that the administration is singling out Somali immigrants — whom President Trump has derided in public remarks and stripped of Temporary Protected Status — for accelerated removal using the immigration courts’ opaque docketing power.