Judge blocks deportation of 10 unaccompanied minors
By: Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
USA Today
..... Guatemala is ready and willing to receive 150 unaccompanied minors per week of all ages from the United States, President Bernardo Arevalo said on September 1, [2025] a day after a U.S. federal judge halted the deportation of 10 Guatemalan children.
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President Donald Trump's administration said in a court filing on September 1 [2025] that the 10 children, who had been boarded onto planes when the court responded to an emergency pre-dawn appeal, had since been returned to shelters run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
..... Arevalo told journalists in Guatemala City that his government has been coordinating with the United States to receive the unaccompanied minors.
..... "But the decision to send them, the number, and the pace is one that rests with the American government, and as you can see, there's currently a legal dispute," he said.
..... A federal judge on August 31 [2025] issued a restraining order blocking the Trump administration from deporting the 10 unaccompanied migrant Guatemalan children and potentially hundreds more in federal custody.
..... Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of the U.S. District court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary restraining order stopping the Trump administration from deporting the children, ages 10 to 17, for 14 days after the Nation la Immigration Law Center filed an emergency request.
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Migrant children who arrive in the United States without a parent or guardian are classified as unaccompanied minors and set to a shelter managed by the Office of Refugee Resettlement until they can be placed with a family member on foster home, a process outline in federal law.
..... Efren C. Olivares, an attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, hailed the judge's decision.
..... "In the dead of night on a holiday weekend, the Trump administration ripped vulnerable, frightened children from their beds and attempted to return them to danger in Guatemala,: Olivares said in a statement. "We are heartened the court printed this injustice from occurring before hundreds of children suffered irreparable harm."
..... The lawsuit argued that the administration's plan to expel the children violates protections under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, a federal legislation passed in 2008. The lawsuit also said the government was "imminently planning" to put them on flights to Guatemala, "where they may face abuse, neglect, persecution, or even torture, against their best interests."
..... Attorneys said there are around 600 children who could be at risk for deportation
..... Contributing: Reuters