Judge Halts Deportation of Guatemalan Minors

Attorney Efrén Olivares had asked the judge to keep the hearing going until all of the children were deplaned, saying there have been several instances where “allegations of confusion and misunderstanding have resulted in irreparable harm.”

Sooknanan expressed skepticism during the hearing over the legality of the administration’s attempt to repatriate the children. She said she received notice of the complaint at 2 a.m. Sunday and that she personally tried to reach the U.S. attorney’s office, leaving a voice message at 3:43 a.m. saying that she wanted to hear from the government before she issued her temporary restraining order

“We are here on a holiday weekend where I have the government attempting to remove unaccompanied minors from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend, which is surprising, but here we are,” she said.

Ensign argued that the Trump administration was removing the children in accordance with the law and at the request of the Guatemalan government and the legal guardians of the children.

“The government of Guatemala has requested the return of these children and all of these children have their parents or guardians in Guatemala who are requesting their return, and United States government is trying to facilitate the return of these children to their parents or guardians from whom they have been separated,” Ensign said.

Olivares strongly disagreed with that argument.

“Some of the children do not have either parent, some of the children have fear of returning to Guatemala so have not requested to return, do not want to return,” he said.

Judge Sooknanan appeared to question the validity of the government’s argument.

“I have conflicting narratives from both sides here on whether what is happening here is an attempt to reunite these children with their parents or just return these children to Guatemala where they face harm,” she said.

Sooknanan read declarations from some of the children submitted in court filings, including one from one child who said their parents had received a “strange phone call” notifying them that the US government was trying to deport them to Guatemala along with other minors.

“Every one of these 10 declarants who are named plaintiffs speak about being afraid of going back to Guatemala,” she said, adding that some of the children had faced abuse and neglect from some of their family members.