WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge is temporarily maintaining measures that would prevent the Trump administration from deporting children of Guatemalan immigrants while in government detention.
Judge Timothy J. Kelly’s Saturday decision prevents the government from coming to the United States until September 16th and taking away Guatemalan children who are currently living and raising in government shelters.
Kelly’s order said that the facts of the case were still changing until the September 10 hearing, so a short extension was needed to continue studying the matter. His decision comes after the government during that hearing Backtracked to a previous claim That the children’s parents have returned to them.
The court’s decision comes from the Trump administration’s Labor Day weekend operation I tried to delete it Dozens of Guatemalan immigrant children who came to the United States alone and lived in US government shelters.
The administration notified the shelter during the late night surgery on August 30th. There, immigrant children traveling alone lived across the southern border, saying that when they returned their children to Guatemala, they needed to be ready to leave for hours.
Immigration and customs enforcement contractors welcomed Guatemalan children from shelters, nurtured care and transported them to the airport. The government said it had identified 457 children due to the possibility of removal in Guatemala, but that list was eventually reduced to 327. He said 76 people will eventually board the planes in El Paso and Harlingen, Texas on August 31, leaving for Guatemala, which the government described as the first phase.
Warned about possible efforts to eliminate Guatemala minors, immigrants and children advocates immediately sued the Trump administration to prevent the removal of children. Advocates argued that many of these children have escaped abuse and violence in their home countries, and that the government has bypassed years of legal procedures to prevent young immigrants from being reverted to potentially abusive or violent places.
A federal judge in Washington granted defenders a 14-day temporary restraining order. It primarily prevented the Trump administration from eliminating immigrant children, except in limited circumstances where immigration judges had already ordered removal after considering the lawsuit. Kelly’s Saturday order will extend that protection for another three days.
The government claims it has the right to bring children back to care and is acting at the request of the Guatemalan government.
The Guatemalan government says it is concerned minors in US detention, as they are expected to turn 18 and are at risk of being extradited to adult detention facilities.
Children crossing the border are generally transferred to the Refugee Resettlement Bureau, which falls under the Ministry of Health and Human Services. Children usually live in a network of shelters across the country. This is supervised by the resettlement office until it is eventually released to a sponsor (usually a relative).
Children’s advocates also seek long-term protections in Washington Court that would prevent the government from eliminating all children in government detention, with a few limited exceptions, the lawsuit is being filed in court. Supporters made the request after reporting that the government intended to eliminate Honduras children. The court has not yet controlled the request.
In separate Arizona and Illinois cases, there was also a temporary restraining order filed over Labor Day weekend, with defenders appealing to the government to limit the elimination of Guatemalans and subsequent Honduras children, but those cases have a smaller range of children to cover than in Washington.
