Immigration authorities in Texas placed 76 minors onto three planes around 1:00 a.m. on Aug. 31 before a federal district judge issued a temporary restraining order halting the deportations. Attorneys filed an emergency request arguing that returning the children to Guatemala would expose them to grave risk of abuse or persecution and would violate their due process rights. The case moved from a Biden-appointed judge to a Trump-appointed judge. Court filings identify 10 minors by initials, ages ranging 10 to 17, with allegations of abandonment, neglect, or abuse. Lawyers say most of the identified children expressed fear of return and were given no prior notice of removal.
Dozens of Guatemalan migrant children in the U.S. are now in a state of limbo after a federal district court judge temporarily blocked their deportation. Immigration authorities in Texas had placed 76 minors onto three planes around 1:00 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 31, when the judge issued the restraining order. Attorneys with the National Immigration Law Center had filed an emergency request to stop the planes from taking off.
The lawyers argued that returning the children to Guatemala would put them at grave risk of abuse or persecution, and that their hasty removal was a violation of their due process rights in the U.S. The case, which was originally handled by a Biden-appointed judge, who was on-call over the weekend, has now been reassigned to a Trump-appointed judge. What do we know about these children? Much is undisclosed or disputed about the minors and their circumstances.
Court papers filed by attorneys for the minors identify 10 of them, but only by their initials. Lawyers say they range from 10 to 17 years old, and that some were abandoned, neglected or abused in Guatemala, and could be at risk if sent back, possibly facing even "persecution or torture." One of the minors, according to the class action complaint, is a 10-year-old girl whose mother is deceased, who was abused and neglected by caregivers.
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