A US judge has temporarily blocked an attempt by the Trump administration to deport dozens of unaccompanied Guatemalan children back to their home country.
District Court Judge Sparkle Sooknanan's order on Sunday was in response to reports that children had been put onto planes and were about to be sent to Guatemala, where lawyers argued they would be at risk of abuse and persecution.
The children arrived in the US alone and are in government custody while their immigration claims are assessed.
Lawyers for the US Justice Department contended that the children were not being deported but rather repatriated to reunite with family.
The legal proceedings were initiated early on Sunday when immigrant advocacy groups requested an emergency injunction, fearing that around 600 children could be placed on planes for deportation from Texas.
Judge Sooknanan subsequently issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting officials from sending 10 migrant children, aged 10 to 17, to Guatemala. Following a hastily arranged afternoon hearing, the judge extended the order to all unaccompanied children at risk of being deported for a period of 14 days.
During the hearing, the judge sought reassurances from Trump administration lawyers regarding the status of the flights. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign announced that all planes were grounded in the US, clarifying that while one flight had taken off, it had returned.
Ensign maintained that the flights were not aimed at deportations, but rather intended for family reunifications requested by the Guatemalan government and the children’s relatives. Advocacy groups, however, disputed this claim.
Attorneys representing the minors argued that the government's actions violated federal laws designed to protect children arriving alone in the US. They noted that several minors had ongoing cases before immigration judges and had expressed credible fears about returning to Guatemala.
In the dead of night on a holiday weekend, the Trump administration ripped vulnerable, frightened children from their beds and attempted to return them to danger in Guatemala, stated Efrén C. Olivares of the National Immigration Law Center, which filed the lawsuit. We are heartened the court prevented this injustice from occurring before hundreds of children suffered irreparable harm.
White House immigration advisor Stephen Miller criticized the judge's ruling, asserting that the minors had all reported their parents were back home in Guatemala, claiming a Democrat judge was preventing their reunion.
Since starting his second term, Trump has intensified efforts to remove undocumented migrants, a central promise of his administration that has resonated strongly with his supporters.
In June, the US Supreme Court permitted Trump to resume deportations of migrants to countries other than their homelands without allowing them to contest the risks they might face upon return.
