Federal judge halts deportation of hundreds of Guatemalan children

A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from deporting hundreds of Guatemalan minors to their home country after the government walked back claims that it intended to reunite the youths with their parents.

Judge Timothy Kelly, who issued the order, signaled his skepticism of the removals in a hearing last week, noting declarations from minors who said they feared facing violence or neglect if they were returned to Guatemala.

“It goes without saying that makes that irreparable harm,” Kelly said of their possible removals.

Kelly, a Trump appointee, also raised a report from the Guatemalan attorney general’s office, which plaintiffs submitted to the court. The report was compiled in response to Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement notifying the Guatemalan government that it planned to return more than 600 minors to Guatemala. No parents had requested the return of their children, the report said. Welch said she had no evidence to contradict the report.

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“I don’t have anything specific that I can refer to contest the Guatemalan AG’s report,” Welch said, though she also said that some children have signaled they are interested in returning home.

The judge’s order arose from a lawsuit brought against the Trump administration after federal authorities woke up 70 minors, aged 10 to 17, in the middle of the night over Labor Day weekend while they were in HHS custody and transferred them to a plane bound for Guatemala. 

Attorneys for some of the minors secured an emergency restraining order from Judge Sparkle Sooknanan that prevented their imminent deportation. Kelly’s order effectively extends that order indefinitely.

The Trump administration could appeal the decision. Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

The minors’ attorneys argued their clients were at imminent risk of removal despite some having pending asylum cases or other legal claims that had not fully been vetted by the courts.

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Sooknanan initially addressed the lawsuit over Labor Day weekend, but Kelly has since taken the case over.

Trump administration officials, including a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, had excoriated Sooknanan when he issued her order, claiming the judge was blocking children from returning to their parents.

“Judge Sparkle [Sooknanan] is blocking flights to *reunify* Guatemalan children with their families,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin wrote on social media at the time. “Now these children have to go to shelters. This is disgusting and immoral.”

The minors’ attorneys argued in court papers that trafficking and immigration laws “prevent unaccompanied children from being whisked off under cover of darkness at the whim of any government.” The minors in question are currently in Health and Human Services custody and have no legal guardians in the United States, the attorneys have said.