Masked federal agents wait until a judge dismisses the case against the immigrant, who is swiftly then handcuffed and jailed en route to a rapid deportation pipeline. It's a scene that is playing out in New York and beyond.

How can an immigrant with a case pending — sometimes for asylum — who’s been showing up to court, as ordered, be nevertheless detained and deported? The mechanism is through turbocharging a Clinton-era law , creating a fast-track deportation process called expedited removal.

Here are questions and answers about one of the ways the Trump administration executes what then-candidate Donald Trump promised would be the "largest deportation operation in American history."

What is 'expedited removal'?

It’s a process by which an immigrant who’s been in the country for

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