Federal immigration officials arrested dozens of immigrants following their immigration court hearings in multiple U.S. cities this week, in operations that advocates said appeared to target people who had been in the country for less than two years.

The tactical shift accelerates the erosion of past limitations — and appears to be aimed at speeding up the pace of deportations.

A spate of arrests at immigration courts across the United States this week has rattled people showing up for hearings and may signal a coordinated attempt at deportations under fast-track authority t