Attorneys and advocates concern about 1,000 Central American kids, together with dozens in California, are susceptible to being deported to harmful conditions of their residence international locations earlier than ending their immigration courtroom proceedings.
They imagine the U.S. authorities is now increasing their checklist of lots of of youngsters throughout the nation, which began with kids from Guatemala, to incorporate these from Honduras and El Salvador. Attorneys for some kids noticed their scheduled hearings disappear from the immigration courtroom calendars in latest weeks.
“It has been heartbreaking and infuriating these final two weeks to must warn our baby purchasers that our authorities seeks to violate their rights and return them to hazard,” mentioned Marion Donovan-Kaloust, director of authorized providers on the Los Angeles-based Immigrant Defenders Regulation Middle, which represents unaccompanied minors. “The truth that the federal government is doubling down on this merciless scheme ought to shock everybody’s conscience.”
In the course of the evening over Labor Day weekend, the federal government eliminated 76 Guatemalan kids from shelters in Arizona and Texas. Lots of their instances had vanished from calendars earlier than the Division of Homeland Safety positioned them on a aircraft set to return to Guatemala with out telling their dad and mom, in response to courtroom paperwork.
A transport van with migrants on board departs the Valley Worldwide Airport, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Harlingen, Texas.
(Michael Gonzalez / Related Press)
A federal choose blocked the flight in an emergency order as the kids sat aboard a aircraft on the tarmac. Many feared for his or her security ought to they return to Guatemala, the place attorneys say they face gang violence, bodily abuse and neglect.
A 2025 Human Rights Watch report discovered “excessive ranges of trafficking, extortion and violence in opposition to ladies” within the nation, and in December, the State Division warned vacationers to rethink journey to the area on account of crime.
U.S. Division of Justice legal professional Sara Welch mentioned throughout a listening to this week there have been “no instant plans” to take away immigrant kids from different international locations. The Division of Homeland Safety and the Workplace of Refugee Resettlement didn’t reply to requests for remark.
A authorized assist employee with information of the scenario mentioned Honduran counterparts predict 300 kids to be returned to the nation, which might account for practically all Honduran kids in Workplace of Refugee Resettlement custody nationwide. One other 100 unaccompanied kids from El Salvador are in U.S. authorities custody, mentioned the employee, who requested anonymity to share delicate particulars.
Earlier this summer season, Guatemalan officers mentioned U.S. officers had despatched them a checklist of 609 youngsters ages 14-17 to be returned to the nation. A minimum of 40 immigrant kids residing in California have been on that checklist, the authorized assist employee mentioned.
In a Sept. 6 sworn declaration, Angie Salazar, appearing director of the refugee resettlement workplace, mentioned that 457 Guatemalan kids have been initially recognized as “doubtlessly acceptable for reunification with a dad or mum or authorized guardian,” however that after reviewing particular person instances, 327 kids have been decided to be in the end eligible for elimination from the U.S.
In the course of the listening to this week, Welch walked again earlier authorities assertions that the kids’s dad and mom had requested for them to be returned, after attorneys for the minors produced a memo from the Guatemalan legal professional common that confirmed officers had contacted about 115 households, practically half of whom have been upset on the prospect of their baby being returned.
One other 50 households mentioned they have been keen to just accept the kids however had not requested for his or her return. In a single case, the memo famous the dad and mom mentioned they’ll “do every little thing doable” to get their daughter overseas once more “as a result of she had acquired dying threats.”
Because the deportation try over the vacation weekend, attorneys for the kids, who crossed the border with out authorized guardians and are actually underneath the care of the Workplace of Refugee Resettlement, have been on excessive alert.
One legal professional with the nonprofit Estrella del Paso in Texas mentioned in sworn statements that on Sept. 5 she acquired an nameless name from a shelter that the “authorities was planning to repatriate all kids underneath the ORR custody with out making any bulletins.”
One other legal professional, Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, deputy director of the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Venture in Arizona, equally mentioned the identical day that “credible studies continued to stream in from the community relating to the upcoming elimination of Honduran kids.”
The amenities that didn’t get up the Guatemalan kids in the midst of the evening have been despatched a “DEMAND FOR COMPLIANCE” letter from the Workplace of Refugee Resettlement on Aug. 31.
“Negligent or intentional failure to adjust to lawful requests from ORR relating to the care of the kids in your care facility will end in immediate authorized motion and will end in civil and prison penalties and costs, in addition to suspension and termination of contractual relations along with your facility,” states the letter, which was obtained by The Occasions.
The letter frightened shelters and foster households, mentioned Shaina Aber, govt director of the Acacia Middle for Justice.
“We have now heard from shelters and foster households that they’re very nervous they usually don’t know whether or not to observe the regulation as they perceive it from years of doing this work, or to associate with this novel extrajudicial course of,” Aber mentioned.
Attorneys within the case are asking U.S. District Decide Timothy J. Kelly, a Trump appointee, to increase the emergency order and halt the elimination of youngsters from different international locations who don’t want to be returned. They argue U.S. officers shouldn’t have authority to take away them with out offering them a possibility to have their instances for asylum heard earlier than an immigration choose.
The emergency order, which applies solely to the Guatemalan kids, was set to run out Sunday. On Saturday, Kelly continued it till Tuesday whereas he considers a broader extension throughout the lawsuit.
“I’m sure that folks there who damage me and threatened to kill me earlier than will as soon as once more damage me and can perform their threats to kill me,” mentioned one 17-year-old recognized as D.I.R. in courtroom data.
Amongst these named is a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy in long-term foster care in Fullerton. His immigration proceedings had been closed and never but determined. One other is a 16-year-old Guatemalan lady residing in foster care in Riverside. She’s in immigration proceedings and is petrified of being despatched again. Each are being represented by the Immigrant Defenders Regulation Middle.
Some Guatemalan kids within the U.S. have been interviewed by officers with Homeland Safety Investigations, a department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, mentioned Efrén C. Olivares, vp of litigation and authorized technique for the Nationwide Immigration Regulation Middle. Some members of the family in Guatemala additionally acquired calls from native authorities officers who mentioned their kids could be despatched again.
Olivares, one of many lead attorneys for the plaintiffs in Washington, warned if the courtroom sided with the Trump administration, “they will do that to all kids in ORR custody of each nationality.”
“That’s the worst-case state of affairs,” he mentioned.
Guatemalan officers have publicly acknowledged efforts to coordinate with the U.S. to obtain lots of of youngsters at present held in U.S. amenities.
The Honduran authorities posted on X Sept. 1 that it had initiated efforts to coordinate the “secure return of minors deported from the USA.”
Whereas the Salvadoran authorities has not launched public communications concerning the repatriation of youngsters from the U.S., Olivares pointed to the coordination between the 2 governments earlier this 12 months, when lots of of Venezuelan migrants within the U.S. have been despatched to a infamous mega-prison in El Salvador.
“It’s worrisome that they’ve a really shut relationship,” Olivares mentioned
In the meantime, two localized instances are taking part in out in Illinois and Arizona.
On Thursday, a federal choose in Arizona briefly blocked the Trump administration from eradicating dozens of Guatemalan and Honduran kids residing there in shelters or foster care. Equally, a federal choose stopped the elimination of Guatemalan kids in Illinois, and a listening to is about for Tuesday.
“These are kids who’re actually right here with out and not using a dad or mum, and really weak,” mentioned Laura Smith, govt director of the Kids’s Authorized Middle in Chicago and an legal professional on the Illinois case, who additionally obtained phrase from a facility shortly after Labor Day that immigration officers have been readying to take custody of Honduran kids. “So I’m stunned by the administration’s assaults.”
The transfer to deport unaccompanied kids comes amid broader efforts to strip away protections for younger immigrants. As an example, the administration has sought to finish funding for attorneys who characterize unaccompanied kids. It’s also in search of to finish a decades-old settlement that requires minimal requirements of care for youngsters held in detention.
