More than 600 Guatemalan children ages 10 to 17 were targeted for deportation over Labor Day weekend. The children arrived alone and were in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. An agreement with the Guatemalan government reportedly enabled the planned removals. The National Immigration Law Center filed a class action lawsuit around 1:00 a.m. Sunday and sought an emergency order. A federal judge in Washington, D.C. granted the emergency order hours later, temporarily halting the deportations. The NILC complaint asserts that planned removals violate the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the Constitution. Advocates characterized the effort as targeting orphaned children and denying basic legal rights.
In an effort reminiscent of US President Donald Trump using the Alien Enemies Act to send hundreds of migrants to a Salvadoran prison, his administration just tried to deport more than 600 unaccompanied children to Guatemala over Labor Day weekend - though for now, a federal judge's order appears to have halted the plan, unlike last time. CNN exclusively reported Friday morning that the Trump administration was "moving to repatriate hundreds of Guatemalan children" who arrived in the United States alone and were placed in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Subsequent reporting confirmed plans to deport the kids, who are ages 10-17.
Fearing their imminent removal after the administration reportedly reached an agreement with the Guatemalan government, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) launched a class action lawsuit around 1:00 am Sunday, seeking an emergency order that was granted just hours later by a federal judge in Washington, D.C. "Plaintiffs have active proceedings before immigration courts across the country, yet defendants plan to remove them in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the Constitution," NILC's complaint explains. Efrén C. Olivares, vice president of litigation and legal strategy at the NILC, said that "it is a dark and dangerous moment for this country when our government chooses to target orphaned 10-year-olds and denies them their most basic legal right"
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