Judge Blocks Deportation of Hundreds of Unaccompanied Children as Flights Were Ready to Take Off

[HumblePi]

Judge Blocks Deportation of Hundreds of Unaccompanied Children as Flights Were Ready to Take Off https://time.com/7313641/deportation-guatemala-ice-judge-blocked/​

A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump Administration from deporting hundreds of unaccompanied children back to their home country of Guatemala, just as some of the children were boarded on planes and ready to depart.

The last-minute order wrapped up a frenetic legal battle that began in the early hours of Sunday morning, when immigration advocacy groups filed an emergency lawsuit after discovering shelters holding unaccompanied children were abruptly told to prepare them for deportation within two hours.

District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan issued a temporary block on the deportations at 4 a.m. and called a hearing for Sunday afternoon. That hearing was moved forward when she heard the deportations were already underway, and the judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking deny deportations for 14 days.

"I do not want there to be any ambiguity about what I am ordering," Judge Sooknanan said, adding that the government "cannot remove any children" while the case is ongoing.

The judge ordered the children to be taken off the planes and made clear that her ruling applies to all Guatemalan minors who arrived in the U.S. without their parents or guardians.

Some children were taken off planes as they were waiting to take off on the tarmac. A government lawyer said in the hearing that one plane had taken off, but later came back when the order was issued.

In their lawsuit, lawyers from the National Immigrant Law Center (NILC) said the children—who are in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)—were due to be handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported to Guatemala on Sunday.
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The Judge ruled this to be a violation of the Trafficking VIctims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. Who will defend the Trump administration for their attempt to deport children to Guatemala in the dead of night? This is loathsome.

 

[Jessie C]

We have become a barbaric 3rd world country under this horrible president and his loathsome administration. God help us all......

 

[Hatuey]

The Trump administration needs to send those unaccompanied kids to Uganda too! Deporting kids to countries they don't belong to is what we voted for! Save the childen!

 

[HumblePi]

During the hearing, Ensign said the planes involved were currently on the ground, though one may have taken off and returned to the U.S. with the children on board. There were 600+ children being returned to Guatemala.

 

[Absentglare]

During the hearing, Ensign said the planes involved were currently on the ground, though one may have taken off and returned to the U.S. with the children on board. There were 600+ children being returned to Guatemala.

I hope none of these children go missing and end up in Prosperá or one of Thiel’s other human experimentation hubs.

 

[Pyrite]

Turns out trump, miller, et al tried to pull a fast one:

Exclusive: Guatemalan document undercuts U.S. claims on child deportations

Many family members of unaccompanied Guatemalan migrant children who are part of a group the Trump administration attempted to deport over the weekend did not want their children returned to Guatemala, according to an internal Guatemalan government report that contradicts assertions made by U.S...

www.reuters.com

Many family members of unaccompanied Guatemalan migrant children who are part of a group the Trump administration attempted to deport over the weekend did not want their children returned to Guatemala, according to an internal Guatemalan government report that contradicts assertions made by U.S. officials.

The report, produced by a Guatemalan attorney general's office and reviewed by Reuters, said Guatemalan authorities had contacted the families of 115 minors who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without a parent or guardian. Of those, 59 families expressed anger about the possibility of their children being returned to Guatemala, with some even describing it as intimidation, the document said.

Contents of the report have not been previously reported and offer the most comprehensive insight so far into the resistance of many family members to the children being deported. Some of those concerns were backed up by court filings published on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump's effort to deport unaccompanied migrant children aged 10-17 over the weekend triggered an immediate legal challenge. In an emergency court hearing on Sunday, a Justice Department attorney said the parents wanted their children to be deported, but a lawyer for the children rejected that assertion.

Guatemala initially agreed with U.S. authorities that it would receive migrants nearing the age of 18 whose parents were generally not in the United States and who would be transferred to adult detention, according to the report.

On July 11, the U.S. provided Guatemala with a list of minors in Health and Human Services custody who were about to turn 18, in accordance with the original plan to facilitate their return to Guatemala before their birthdays. But some time after that, the U.S. sent Guatemala a much broader list of 609 children ages 14-17.

One person with knowledge of Guatemalan authorities' thinking said the government was taken aback by how quickly the Trump administration had broadened the scope of the plan. The person said that it seemed to go overnight from returning 17-year-olds to deporting children as young as 10....

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Not only did the US Government essentially lie to the Guatemalan Government, it also lied to the American public. And the DOJ attorney lied to the court.