US can choose to deport Hongkongers under Deferred Enforced Departure scheme

United States authorities could deport Hong Kong residents granted extended stay under the Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) programme and have not ruled out the option of doing so after a dozen were reportedly detained at local airports.

“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is not precluded from placing aliens with such temporary administrative designation into removal proceedings, nor is it currently removing them,” a department spokesman said in a reply to the South China Morning Post on Sunday evening.

“Work authorisation or a pending application do not confer legal status in the United States.”

The remarks followed a report by US media outlet Politico that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had detained at least a dozen Hong Kong residents under the DED programme at local airports.