Federal Judge Blocks Deportation of Guatemalan Minors
A federal judge has intervened to prevent the Trump administration from deporting a significant number of Guatemalan minors back to their home country. This decision comes after the government stated intentions to reunite these minors with their parents.
Judge Timothy Kelly expressed doubts about the feasibility of such reunifications during a previous hearing. He referenced a testimony from one minor who described his fears of violence and neglect if returned to Guatemala. “It goes without saying, it causes irreparable harm,” Kelly remarked concerning the potential deportations.
Kelly, appointed by Trump, also noted a report submitted by the Guatemala Attorney General’s Office, which was presented by the plaintiffs. This report responded to notifications from the Department of Health and Human Services, which indicated plans to send over 600 minors back to Guatemala. The report revealed that parents were not requesting their children’s return, and attorney Welch remarked there was no evidence contradicting this finding.
The judge’s ruling came after federal officials began processing the deportation of 70 minors aged between 10 and 17, waking them up early on a weekday as they prepared to send them back to Guatemala. Following the judge’s order, some lawyers for these minors secured emergency control orders from Judge Sparkle Sooknanan to halt their imminent deportation. Kelly’s decision effectively extends this protection indefinitely.
The Trump administration has the option to appeal the ruling. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for further comment.
Lawyers representing the minors contended that the clients faced an immediate risk of removal, despite their pending asylum claims and other legal requests that had yet to be fully evaluated by the court.
Initially, Sooknanan worked on the case over the Labor Day weekend, but the case was later taken over by Kelly.
Officials from the Trump administration, including a spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security, criticized the judge’s ruling, suggesting that it obstructed the reunification of children with their parents. “Blocking children’s flights to Guatemala is disgusting and immoral,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin stated on social media.
The minors’ legal representatives pointed out that trafficking and immigration laws are designed to protect unaccompanied children from being arbitrarily handled by the government. Currently, the minor in question remains under the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services without any legal guardians in the U.S.
