Judge blocks Guatemalan Children’s deportation!
Miami, US, Aug 31 (EFE).-
A United States judge temporarily blocked on Sunday the Trump administration’s plans to deport hundreds of unaccompanied Guatemalan minors who arrived in the US and are in the custody of the authorities.
District of Columbia Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan ordered the government not to deport children from Guatemala for two weeks, following an emergency request from the National Immigration Law Center to stop their repatriation.
According to their lawyers, the children, aged between 10 and 16, have pending cases before immigration courts, and the administration has violated due process by ignoring the special protections for those who crossed the border between Mexico and the US alone.
During Sunday afternoon’s hearing, the magistrate described the government’s attempt to remove minors from the country in the middle of the night during a holiday weekend as “surprising.”
Sooknanan’s order came as several of the children were already on planes bound for Guatemala, according to Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign.
Ensign said all planes in the US were “on the ground,” however, one plane had taken off but returned.
The lawyer added that the government was unaware of the order issued by the judge on Sunday morning for the transfer of the minors to the planes.
According to CNN, the measure applies to 600 Guatemalan children currently in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Data from the Administration for Children and Families, which is part of the HHS, reveals that the US had 2,198 unaccompanied minors in custody in July. However, this data does not unveil their nationalities.
According to the NGO Save the Children, most minors who cross the land border between the US and Mexico alone come from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
The Trump administration is also facing challenges regarding repatriation in light of the three-decade-old Flores Agreement. A federal court in Los Angeles, California, is currently overseeing the implementation of the agreement that the US government has sought to end.
Signed in 1997 after years of litigation, the agreement establishes that federal authorities cannot detain undocumented minors for more than 20 days and must ensure their safety and well-being. EFE hbc/dgp
