Federal judge grills DOJ over attempted Labor Day deportation of Guatemalan children

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Justice Department struggled to defend its middle-of-the-night efforts to deport dozens of Guatemalan children over the Labor Day weekend during a hearing Wednesday, arguing that a federal judge should not certify the full class of migrant children.

The case is the latest example of the Trump administration moving as quickly as possible to deport wide swaths of migrants without due process before a court can intervene, and proof that federal judges have created a blueprint to ensure migrants are not removed before having their case heard.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Donald Trump appointee, heard arguments for a preliminary injunction that would prevent the government from summarily removing a class of approximately 600 migrant children.

Immediately following the attempted deportations, the Justice Department argued the deportations were intended to reunite children with their families still in Guatemala at the request of the Guatemalan government and relatives.

According to a letter from the Guatemalan Attorney General’s office, officials reached only 115 people, just 50 of whom said they would accept their children back, and none requested deportation.

Efrén Olivares, of the National Immigrant Law Center and representing the 10 named plaintiffs, argued that the Trump administration has shown it cannot be trusted not to act without a court order in place, noting that removal itself would cause irreparable harm to any plaintiff.

“Given the vulnerability of these unaccompanied minors, deprivation of these statutory rights is enough irreparable harm to justify class certification,” Olivares said.

Kelly told Justice Department attorney Sarah Welch that he was “struck” by the Justice Department’s briefing, which had conceded its representation that the removals were at family members’ request was false.

Welch said the 10 named plaintiffs were no longer eligible for removal and couldn’t represent the wider class, urging Judge Kelly to deny the plaintiffs’ motion to certify a putative class.

Kelly did not rule on the preliminary injunction but suggested that even if he ruled against the plaintiffs, unaccompanied children should still get a chance to contest their removals, something that did not happen in this case.

In the lawsuit, Olivares argued the children are protected under the 2008 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which requires unaccompanied minors from countries other than Mexico or Canada to be placed in immigration court and given access to counsel.

By contrast, U.S. agreements with Mexico and Canada allow “voluntary removals,” an expedited process with screening to ensure minors won’t face violence or trafficking upon their return.

But in the early hours of Aug. 31, the Trump administration transported dozens of Guatemalan children, ages 10 to 17, from federal foster homes operated by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to a Texas airport, where they were flown back to Guatemala.

According to children’s attorneys, more than 600 other children had been identified as potential targets for deportation as part of an apparent agreement with the Guatemalan government, which the Justice Department characterized as an effort to reunite the minors with family in Guatemala.

The children contest that characterization, noting in several declarations that the middle-of-the-night trip to the airport sparked significant fear among them.

According to a declaration, a young girl held at a children’s shelter in McAllen, Texas, “was so scared that she vomited and asked to speak with a clinician, while a teenager, whose sister was murdered in Guatemala last year, said she worried she’d also be killed if she returned. Other declarants said they’d experienced serious family violence, sexual abuse or human trafficking, part of the reasons they sought asylum in the United States.

Sooknanan, alerted to the case around 1 a.m., issued a temporary restraining order halting the removals of the named plaintiffs and set an emergency hearing that afternoon to consider extending it to more than 100 other children.

Just prior to that hearing, Sooknanan issued a new order further blocking the removal of any Guatemalan unaccompanied minors, ensuring that any plane about to take off would remain grounded during the hearing.

Until Sooknanan’s second order, the case followed a near-identical dispute from March, when the Trump administration tried to deport 137 Venezuelan migrants it alleged were members of the Tren de Aragua gang to El Salvador’s CECOT mega prison.

That weekend effort was quickly challenged, and Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg blocked the removal of several named plaintiffs and set a same-day hearing to rule on certifying a class for other migrants.

During the hearing, however, two flights departed for El Salvador and the Trump administration ignored Boasberg’s orders to turn the planes around, resulting in the men lingering in CECOT for several months until the government agreed to release them to Venezuela.

The migrants are still seeking their return to the U.S. to challenge their removals and designation as Tren de Aragua members.

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