By ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press

SAN DIEGO (AP) - A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's move to vastly extend authority of immigration officers to deport people without allowing them to appear before judges.

The policy would allow fast-track deportations to apply to anyone in the country illegally for less than two years. Now, they are largely limited to people arrested almost immediately after crossing the Mexican border.

Ruling late Friday in Washington, U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson says the administration violated procedural requirements to first seek public comment and ignored flaws in how the policy has been used on a smaller scale at the border.

The Justice Department says the judge overstepped her authority and undermined laws enacted by Congress with careful consideration by the administration on how to enforce them.

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