WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump Administration from forcibly sending back Guatemalan children held in federal custody. This comes after reports emerged on Friday that the government planned to return more than 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan children in federal custody to Guatemala before their immigration cases are completed or even begun. These children are currently in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services, and the plan would force them out of safety and into uncertainty.
Last night, just hours after advocates had received reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were heading to government shelters to deport children, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of 10 individual children who feared imminent returns and sought an emergency order from the court to block the unlawful removals. In the filing, the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is serving as ‘next friend”, appearing in court as a representative for the plaintiffs to protect their best interests. The court’s order blocking these removals will remain in place until September 14, while the court considers a request by plaintiffs for more permanent relief.
After the court had issued a temporary restraining order in the middle of the night, advocates for children, including Child Advocate Program staff with the Young Center, received reports that the government was proceeding with taking children from government shelters and placing them on flights for immediate returns. Advocates rapidly deployed to try to prevent children from being taken from facilities.
Gladys Hernandez, Managing Attorney of the Young Center’s Child Advocate Program in Harlingen, TX: “We witnessed children, some as young as ten years old, abruptly awoken in the middle of the night and ordered to pack their belongings because they were being sent back. Terrified and confused, they desperately tried to recall what little they understood about their cases, what the immigration judges had told them, and understand why this was happening. Their grief was overwhelming; they cried so intensely that many had swollen eyes. One very young girl quietly questioned: “¿Por qué me quieren regresar? Mi mamá está muerta y mi papá me abusa. ¿Por qué me quieren hacer daño?” “Why do they want to send me back? My mom is dead and my dad abuses me. Why do they want to hurt me?” The staff could not explain what was happening, leaving the children to anxiously question and speculate among themselves for over 6 hours. They kept asking “why them”. They were made to pick amongst their belongings what to take in the one small duffle they were provided and what to throw away. They were hungry and asking for food and to call family. One girl was despondent because when she called her father, who had heart problems, he screamed and dropped the phone, and she was convinced something had happened to him. In their desperation, the girls began making survival plans, asking who came from which part of Guatemala and how they might help one another once abandoned there.”
Deisy Lee, Managing Attorney of the Young Center’s Child Advocate Program in Houston, TX: “In the middle of the night, children were shaken awake with no warning. Still half-asleep, they were told they had just two hours to gather everything they owned. Confused, exhausted, and unaware of what was happening, they looked to staff for answers, but there were none. ORR had given no notice, families had not been contacted, and the children were left in shock. We were the first ones to tell them what was happening. Their questions cut deep: “¿Por qué hacen esto? Donde nos van a dejar?” “Why are they doing this? Where are they going to leave us?” Fear hung heavy in the room. They worried whether their parents or relatives could even answer the phone at such an hour or be ready to receive them. Some asked in trembling voices, “¿Me van a mandar a otro albergue en Guatemala?” “Are they going to send me to another shelter in Guatemala?” Some children sat stunned in silence, while others broke down crying – tears of fear, defeat, and heartbreak. “Yo tengo miedo a regresar, no quiero regresar” “I’m afraid to return, I don’t want to return,” one child said, their crying face buried in their hands. Outside, a large bus waited in the dark, with orders to take the children away within two hours.”
At an emergency hearing early Sunday afternoon, Judge Sooknanan ordered that the government cease any actions to transfer or remove Guatemalan children in government custody without an executable final order of removal from the United States. The court confirmed with the government attorney that all children who had been boarded onto planes would be returned to government shelters immediately. In response to the government’s claims that it was helping children reunify with family, the Judge read aloud from children’s declarations in which they expressed their fear of return.
Gladis Molina Alt, Executive Director for the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights: “In the last 12 hours, ICE agents have been raiding government shelters in the middle of the night, waking up children, forcing them to pack and boarding them onto planes, while children are crying and saying that they are scared to return. This is not about family reunification and certainly not about the safety and well-being of children. What we have seen is an outright attack on children and their most fundamental rights. Every child in U.S. custody has the right to due process, to seek protection under current asylum law, legal counsel, and an individualized decision that hears their claim for protection first. To strip away these protections puts children’s lives and safety at risk. We will not stand by while the government abandons its commitments to children. We will continue to stand with children and fight unlawful actions by the government that place children in harm’s way.”
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The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is a non-profit organization that protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children and advocates for an immigration system that treats children as children first.