Aug. 31 (UPI) — A federal judge in Washington on Sunday temporarily stopped the Trump administration from deporting a group of Guatemalan children in U.S. custody. Advocates had warned that flights carrying the minors were already preparing to leave.
The case was filed on behalf of ten Guatemalan unaccompanied minors, ages 10 to 17, who remain in government shelters and foster care across the country, according to court records.
The children are represented by the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, which asked the court to block what it called an unlawful plan to deport hundreds of Guatemalan minors even while their immigration cases are still active.
Court filings show the administration identified more than 600 children for removal under a pilot program negotiated with Guatemala. The Young Center said officials had begun moving children from the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s custody to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to board deportation flights just hours after the lawsuit was filed.
The lawsuit names senior officials across multiple agencies, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Attorney General Pamela Bondi, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The Young Center argued the mass deportations violate the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, which says unaccompanied minors from countries like Guatemala must have full immigration court hearings, access to lawyers, and safe return procedures before any removal.
Several children shared fears about returning to Guatemala in sworn statements. They mentioned abuse, neglect, gang violence, and persecution. One 16-year-old girl, who has a 10-month-old daughter in custody, described abuse from her father and her child’s father. Another said she was waiting for an asylum interview and wanted to continue her case in U.S. immigration court.
Just after 4 a.m. Sunday, U.S. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan issued an emergency order granting the children a temporary restraining order. She said the “exigent circumstances” described in the lawsuit required immediate action to “maintain the status quo” and blocked the government from removing the named plaintiffs for two weeks.
Sooknanan, a Biden appointee, had originally scheduled an emergency hearing for 3 p.m. Sunday but moved it up to 12:30 p.m. after learning removals were already in progress.
At the midday hearing, she expanded the restraining order to cover all Guatemalan unaccompanied minors in Office of Refugee Resettlement custody at the time the complaint was filed, as long as they do not already have a final removal order. She said this step was needed to prevent “irreparable harm.”
During the hearing, she also considered whether the case should be certified as a class action. A decision on class certification has not been made yet.
“I have the government attempting to remove minor children from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend, which is surprising, but here we are,” Sooknanan said at the hearing, as reported by Politico.
The judge ordered the government to stop any efforts to transfer, repatriate, or remove the children covered by the suit until at least mid-September unless the court gives further instructions.
