Judge Blocks Expulsions of Minors
A federal judge in Arizona has temporarily halted the Trump administration’s plan to expel around 70 unaccompanied minors from Honduras and Guatemala. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Marquez issued a provisional injunction to prevent the removal of these children without proper orders from an immigration judge.
Judge Marquez was critical of the government’s assertion that these children would be sent back to reunite with their parents. She highlighted significant uncertainties surrounding whether such reunifications would actually take place. “It’s dangerously unclear,” she stated, underscoring the lack of evidence in the government’s claims.
“They argue they are reuniting the children with their parents abroad, but lawyers couldn’t find a single case where this has occurred successfully,” Marquez noted. This raises questions about the actual outcomes of the government’s actions.
Moreover, she pointed out that although the government had asked Guatemalan officials to accept the child, many families of the children currently in the U.S. had not expressed a desire for their return. “While 50 families indicated they would accept children back, there’s concern that none of them have officially requested this, which suggests they might prefer the children remain in the U.S. for now,” Marquez remarked.
The judge referred to a previous case where a temporary restraining order issued over Labor Day weekend had already stopped the removal of 57 children from Guatemala and 12 from Honduras.
This is not the only lawsuit concerning this issue; another similar case in Arizona was recently filed in federal court in D.C. that also obstructed the administration’s attempts to deport unaccompanied children.
In this context, the Trump administration had again claimed they were moving to reunite the minors with their parents. “They proceeded with a ‘unified’ plan in the middle of the night, claiming a parent or guardian requested the return of each child, which was later revealed to be false,” Marquez concluded.
