On Sunday afternoon, a federal judge temporarily halted the removal of unaccompanied Guatemalan minors from US custody while the government was repatriating some of them in the early morning hours.
A notice sent to attorneys about the removals prompted an early Sunday morning scramble among lawyers, who claim the children were woken up in the middle of the night and would be in danger if returned to their home country.
CNN first reported that the Trump administration was coordinating with the Guatemalan government to repatriate hundreds of Guatemalan children who had arrived in the United States unaccompanied.
During a Sunday hearing, Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan, a Biden appointee, stated that she received a call at 2:36 a.m. informing her that the children were being processed for repatriation to Guatemala.
“I have the government attempting to remove unaccompanied minors from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend, which is surprising, but here we are,” she was saying.
Sooknanan requested that the Department of Justice provide evidence to support its claim that the children had been asked to return by their parents or legal guardians.
DOJ attorney Drew Ensign told the court, “That’s what I’ve been told,” but attorneys challenging the removals contended that was false.
The judge gave the government until Friday to submit a formal response to the question. The plaintiffs agreed to file an expedited motion for preliminary injunction by Tuesday, with the DOJ’s response due Friday.
Sooknanan reiterated her order that the US government not remove any of the individual plaintiffs or other unaccompanied Guatemalan minors in US custody, whom she determined were members of the class protected by the order, for two weeks.
During the hearing, Sooknanan asked the Department of Justice’s lawyer to clarify the children’s whereabouts, as some of them had already been placed on planes. They are expected to be returned to US custody, according to the DOJ.
At least one plane carrying Guatemalan children was diverted in Texas, according to Neha Desai, managing director of Children’s Human Rights & Dignity at the National Center for Youth Law.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is in charge of caring for migrant children, notified legal service providers that Guatemala had “requested the return of certain unaccompanied alien children in federal custody for the purposes of reunifying the UAC with suitable family members,” according to a notice obtained by CNN.
The children, who range in age, are thought to have no parents in the United States, but may have a relative and a parent or legal guardian in Guatemala.
According to the notice, the criteria also include children who have no pending asylum cases and will not be trafficked upon their return.
Attorneys for some of the children, however, say that those who have been identified are at risk of being returned to Guatemala and are currently undergoing immigration proceedings.
Attorneys argued in a lawsuit filed early Sunday to block the effort that the Trump administration is violating US law, which provides special protections for unaccompanied migrants and ensures that children are not removed without due process or the opportunity to seek relief from deportation.
CNN contacted the White House, the Departments of Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security for comment.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller criticized Sooknanan’s decision on Sunday, writing in a post on X, “The Biden judge is effectively kidnapping these migrant children and refusing to let them return home to their parents in their home country.”
The plaintiffs in the case, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, are ten unaccompanied minors from Guatemala, ranging in age from ten to seventeen, who have been identified for removal, the majority of whom are currently undergoing immigration proceedings.
One of those children, a 10-year-old indigenous child, “suffered abuse and neglect from other caregivers” in Guatemala. Her mother died.
The immigration attorney who represents several Guatemalan children told CNN that the kids were “terrified and confused.”
“When you explain what is going on, the reaction is disbelief.” They’re extremely scared. “They all say they are afraid to return to Guatemala for various reasons,” the attorney explained. “They were literally taken out of their beds in the middle of the night, on a holiday weekend.”
According to a notice obtained by CNN, the Office of Refugee Resettlement notified shelter providers who care for unaccompanied migrant children late Saturday that the children had been identified “for reunification with their parents and or legal guardians” in their country of origin and must be prepared to be discharged within two hours, or four hours if the child is in a foster care program, of receiving notification.
The notice states that the children must be travel-ready, which includes proper documentation, medication, personal belongings, and two prepared sack lunches.
