5. Department of Homeland Security · Minor
Limit CBP-issued Notices to Appear to humanitarian cases
Printed page 140 5. Department of Homeland Security
“In most instances, CBP should turn illegal aliens over to ICE for detention, and ICE can then issue any needed NTA. CBP should issue NTAs only in limited situations for humanitarian reasons, such as medical emergencies.”
What has happened
- Not started
No CBP policy restricting Notices to Appear to medical emergencies and other humanitarian cases was found. The nationwide expedited-removal designation moves people out of NTA-based proceedings for a different reason and by a different route, so under the rule that progress is measured on this ask it does not move this Recommendation.
No action found yet. This entry is the starting point, not a finding.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Instrument sought: a CBP directive limiting the issuance of Notices to Appear to humanitarian cases.
Searched, in records current to 2026-08-28: presidential documents, final rules, proposed rules and notices in the Federal Register from DHS and its components; bills and public laws in Congress, from congress.gov; White House presidential actions; and federal court dockets (CourtListener), including the bulk snapshot of 1.2 million dockets. No such directive was found. CBP continues to issue NTAs; the department’s 2025 shift has been toward expedited removal instead of removal proceedings (see #316), which reduces NTAs in effect without the humanitarian-only rule the Quote describes.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- CBP issuance of Notices to Appear
- ID
- 303