US judge blocks government from deporting unaccompanied Guatemalan minors

District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan’s exigency bid follows a ineligible ailment brought connected behalf of 10 children.

A United States justice has blocked the medication of US President Donald Trump from deporting unaccompanied Guatemalan children for astatine slightest the adjacent 2 weeks, successful the government’s ongoing hardline anti-immigration push.

The order, which was issued connected Sunday successful effect to a ailment filed by a pro-immigrant advocacy group, came arsenic immoderate Guatemalan children were reportedly already enactment onto planes astatine a Texas airdrome and huddled inside.

District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan’s exigency decree followed a petition from the National Immigration Law Center successful narration to 10 children aged betwixt 10 and 17.

After initially preventing the deportation of the group, Sooknanan, who is based successful Washington, DC, widened the bid to see each Guatemalan children who had reached the US without a genitor oregon guardian.

Sooknanan besides brought guardant a proceeding astir the contented connected Sunday owed to reports that immoderate of the children were successful the process of being removed from the US during the country’s Labor Day vacation weekend.

“I bash not privation determination to beryllium immoderate ambiguity,” the justice said connected Sunday, noting that her determination applied broadly to unaccompanied Guatemalan minors.

The flurry of ineligible enactment came days aft reports successful the US media that the Trump medication was preparing to commencement kid deportations to Guatemala this weekend, pursuing an statement with the Central American country.

Such a determination would represent a “clear usurpation of the unambiguous protections that Congress has provided them arsenic susceptible children”, according to the National Immigration Law Center’s ineligible challenge.

Although the children should beryllium nether the attraction of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the US authorities was acceptable connected “illegally transferring them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody to enactment them connected flights to Guatemala, wherever they whitethorn look abuse, neglect, persecution, oregon torture”, the ailment added.

On Friday, Guatemala’s Foreign Minister Carlos Martinez confirmed that his state was consenting to person hundreds of children who were successful the US.

Since the commencement of his 2nd statesmanlike word successful January, Trump has attempted to commencement deporting refugees and immigrants en masse.

His administration’s anti-immigration actions, which person included sending hundreds of radical to a notorious situation successful El Salvador, person been beset by ineligible difficulties.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the astir high-profile look of the Trump administration’s crackdown and a Salvadoran antheral legally residing successful the US authorities of Maryland, was mistakenly deported successful March. He was severely beaten and subjected to intelligence torture successful situation there, his lawyers say.

Abrego Garcia present wishes to question asylum successful the US. His lawyers told a justice successful caller days that helium fears further persecution and torture should the Trump medication win successful deporting him to Uganda, arsenic it plans to do.