U.S. judge blocks government from deporting unaccompanied Guatemalan children

A U.S. national justice connected Sunday halted the Trump medication from deporting a radical of migrant Guatemalan children already boarded onto planes and perchance hundreds much successful authorities shelters aft their lawyers made a pre-dawn exigency appeal.

The melodramatic country was reminiscent of different last-minute tribunal challenges to Trump-era deportation efforts.

A small aft 1 a.m. ET connected Sunday, the National Immigration Law Center, a pro-immigrant advocacy group, filed an exigency question with the U.S. District Court successful Washington, D.C. to halt the removal of 10 unaccompanied migrant children from Guatemala.

At a uncommon proceeding implicit a vacation weekend, District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said she had been awakened astatine 2:35 a.m. and alerted to the case. Sooknanan issued a impermanent restraining bid halting removal of the children, ages 10-17, for 14 days.

Sooknanan expanded the bid to see immoderate Guatemalan unaccompanied minors successful the custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The ailment said this radical could fig hundreds of children.

Sooknanan told authorities attorneys to corroborate by Sunday day that the children had been removed from the planes. On Sunday evening, the justice said the authorities had not done truthful and ordered the authorities to explicate wherefore it had missed the deadline.

President Donald Trump, a Republican, launched an migration crackdown aft returning to the White House successful January, including an effort to way down and deport unaccompanied migrant children.

His medication struck an statement with Guatemala that would let unaccompanied children to beryllium sent backmost to the state and planned to commencement deportations this weekend, 1 existent and 2 erstwhile U.S. officials told Reuters. The plans were archetypal reported by CNN connected Friday.

Migrant children who get astatine U.S. borders without a genitor oregon guardian are classified arsenic unaccompanied and sent to national government-run shelters until they tin beryllium placed with a household subordinate oregon foster home, a process outlined successful national law.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo said successful July that his authorities was moving with the U.S. to repatriate unaccompanied children.

During the exigency proceeding connected Sunday, Sooknanan pressed the Department of Justice for assurances that Guatemalan children had not been deported already.

"We're present to effort to fig retired arsenic rapidly arsenic we tin what is happening," said Sooknanan, an appointee of Trump's Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.

Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign said nary children had been removed but that immoderate had been loaded onto planes. Ensign said helium believed 1 level whitethorn person taken disconnected but aboriginal returned nether the judge's order.

An lawyer with the National Immigration Law Center, Efren Olivares, told the justice that immoderate children inactive appeared to beryllium aboard planes successful Harlingen and El Paso, Texas. Ensign said they would beryllium moved backmost to HHS shelters.

Ensign said each of the children's parents oregon guardians successful Guatemala had requested their instrumentality via the Guatemalan government, though Olivares contested that.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller criticized Sooknanan for blocking the deportations.

"The minors person each self-reported that their parents are backmost location successful Guatemala," Miller wrote connected X. "But a Democrat justice is refusing to fto them reunify with their parents."

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ICE's genitor agency, and HHS did not instantly respond to requests for comment. Guatemala's overseas ministry declined to comment.

Within the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement, which cares for unaccompanied children until they tin beryllium placed with U.S. sponsors, signs of the caller deportation effort emerged past week.

Melissa Johnston, manager of the HHS' unaccompanied children program, sent an email to unit prohibiting the U.S. merchandise of Guatemalan children successful national custody but for those sponsored by parents oregon ineligible guardians successful the country, according to a transcript reviewed by Reuters.

In their ailment connected Sunday, the National Immigration Law Center and Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights said the deportations would beryllium a "clear usurpation of the unambiguous protections that Congress has provided them arsenic susceptible children."

The ailment said that successful Guatemala, the children "may look abuse, neglect, persecution, oregon adjacent torture, against their champion interests."

Among the plaintiffs was a 10-year-old indigenous Guatemalan miss whose parent had died and who had suffered maltreatment and neglect from different caretakers, the ailment said. The miss was detained astatine a U.S. authorities structure successful South Texas, the ailment said.

Several of the 10 plaintiffs had expressed fearfulness of returning to Guatemala, the ailment said. The children person been successful shelters oregon foster attraction successful California, Texas, Pennsylvania and New York, it said.