Judge blocks Trump administration from immediately deporting Guatemalan migrant children

"WASHINGTON -- A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from immediately deporting Guatemalan migrant children who came to the U.S. alone back to their home country, the latest step in a court struggle over one of the most sensitive issues in Trump's hard-line immigration agenda. The decision by U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly comes after the Republican administration's Labor Day weekend attempt to remove Guatemalan migrant children who were living in government shelters and foster care."

"Trump administration officials said they were seeking to reunify children with parents who wanted them returned home. "But that explanation crumbled like a house of cards about a week later," Kelly wrote. "There is no evidence before the Court that the parents of these children sought their return." Advocates for the children also submitted a whistleblower account to the court that suggests many of the children who were found eligible for deportation had likely been victims of child abuse, like death threats, gang violence, and human trafficking, Kelly noted in his order. "The court saw through the government's repeated misrepresentations of critical facts to try to justify the indefensible targeting of vulnerable children who would have faced danger if forcibly sent to other countries," Efrén C. Olivares, vice president of litigation & legal strategy at the National Immigration Law Center, said in a statement."

A federal judge blocked the immediate deportation of Guatemalan migrant children who arrived in the U.S. alone and were held in government shelters and foster care. The decision by U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly followed a Labor Day weekend attempt by the administration to remove those children. Government officials said they sought reunification with parents, but the court found no evidence parents requested returns. Advocates submitted a whistleblower account indicating many eligible children may have been victims of death threats, gang violence, or human trafficking. A preliminary injunction now extends protection indefinitely, though the government can appeal.

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