A federal judge appointed by President Biden said conflicting stories have given her no choice but to block a round of deportation orders.
A lawsuit was filed after 1 a.m. on Sunday by the legal activist group National Immigration Law Center. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said she received notice of the complaint at 2 a.m. and subsequently called the U.S. attorney’s office and left a voice message at 3:43 a.m.
The judge left word with federal authorities asking for a hearing before she issued an emergency motion that halted the deportation of a group of 76 illegal immigrants. She even moved the hearing up by three hours when she discovered the deportations were already under way.
‘I have conflicting narratives from both sides here.’
The issue, however, was that these illegal immigrants were minors who were set to be reunified with their families in Guatemala.
“The Court ORDERS that [Homeland Security] cease any ongoing efforts to transfer, repatriate, remove, or otherwise facilitate the transport of any Plaintiff or member of the putative class from the United States,” Sooknanan wrote, per ABC News.
Sooknanan also called it “surprising” that the government was “attempting to remove minor children from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend.”
Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign claimed the illegal minors are actually undergoing a repatriation process and that “all of these children have parents or guardians in Guatemala who have requested their return,” according to Fox News.
However, the judge claimed that she has been receiving conflicting stories that have forced her hand.
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“I have conflicting narratives from both sides here on whether what is happening here is an attempt to reunite these children with their parents or just return these children to Guatemala where they face harm,” the judge stated.
Sooknanan said that in the court filings, the children themselves claimed that they were “afraid of going back to Guatemala” over a fear of abuse or neglect from their family members. One child also allegedly said their parents received a “strange phone call” about being deported back to Guatemala along with other minors.
Ensign’s explanation was far more simple, claiming that the government of Guatemala had requested the return of the children, all of whom have “parents or guardians in Guatemala who are requesting” that they be brought back.
“[The] United States government is trying to facilitate the return of these children to their parents or guardians from whom they have been separated,” Ensign said.
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In a post on X, Dept. of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the judge’s order “disgusting and immoral,” while oppositely, the NILC’s Efrén Olivares called it a “dark and dangerous moment when our government chooses to target orphaned 10-year-olds.”
After some of the children had already boarded planes or had arrived to the planes on buses in Harlingen and El Paso, Texas — ready for deportation — they are now in custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
In total, the judge’s order blocks the deportation of about 700 Guatemalan minors.
Homeland Security did not respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.
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