Judge Blocks Policy on Minor Immigrants

A federal judge has temporarily halted the Trump administration’s plan to transfer minor immigrants to adult detention centers when they reach 18 years of age. On Saturday, US District Judge Rudolf Contreras ruled that this new directive was in violation of a previous order from 2021, directing immigration enforcement not to transfer these individuals to ICE detention facilities upon turning 18.

Currently, minor immigrants are not held in ICE facilities. Instead, they are accommodated in centers managed by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Reports indicate that the Trump administration is also offering $2,500 scholarships to teenage immigrants who voluntarily opt to leave the United States, as mentioned in communications from the HHS Refugee Resettlement Office.

In a filing made shortly after midnight on Saturday, several immigrant rights organizations appealed to Judge Contreras for intervention.

Last month, another federal judge restricted the administration from deporting certain Guatemalan minors back to their home country, questioning the validity of claims that their parents sought their return.

Judge Timothy Kelly noted that the administration failed to demonstrate that these parents wanted their children back, stating, “The explanation fell apart like a card house about a week later.” He remarked that there was no evidence presented that these parents were asking for their children.

Michel Lapointe, an attorney for the U.S. Immigration Council, mentioned that typically, children of immigrants in the US are released to foster families unless deemed flight risks or other security concerns.

Some lawyers representing immigrants indicated that shelters were informed that individuals turning 18 would be transferred to ICE detention, regardless of plans for their release, which would only occur under urgent humanitarian circumstances or critical public benefit situations.