Attorneys and advocates concern about 1,000 Central American kids, together with dozens in California, are prone to being deported to harmful conditions of their house international locations earlier than ending their immigration courtroom proceedings.
They imagine the U.S. authorities is now increasing their listing of a whole lot 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 need to warn our little one purchasers that our authorities seeks to violate their rights and return them to hazard,” mentioned Marion Donovan-Kaloust, director of authorized companies on the Los Angeles-based Immigrant Defenders Legislation 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 midst of the night time over Labor Day weekend, the federal government eliminated 76 Guatemalan kids from shelters in Arizona and Texas. A lot of their instances had vanished from calendars earlier than the Division of Homeland Safety positioned them on a airplane set to return to Guatemala with out telling their dad and mom, in accordance with 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 decide blocked the flight in an emergency order as the youngsters sat aboard a airplane 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 towards girls” 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 lawyer Sara Welch mentioned throughout a listening to this week there have been “no fast 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 state of affairs mentioned Honduran counterparts predict 300 kids to be returned to the nation, which might account for almost 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 listing of 609 youngsters ages 14-17 to be returned to the nation. No less than 40 immigrant kids dwelling in California have been on that listing, the authorized assist employee mentioned.
In a Sept. 6 sworn declaration, Angie Salazar, performing director of the refugee resettlement workplace, mentioned that 457 Guatemalan kids have been initially recognized as “doubtlessly acceptable for reunification with a guardian or authorized guardian,” however that after reviewing particular person instances, 327 kids have been decided to be finally eligible for elimination from the U.S.
Throughout the listening to this week, Welch walked again earlier authorities assertions that the youngsters’s dad and mom had requested for them to be returned, after legal professionals for the minors produced a memo from the Guatemalan lawyer basic that confirmed officers had contacted about 115 households, almost half of whom have been upset on the prospect of their little one being returned.
One other 50 households mentioned they have been prepared to simply accept the youngsters however had not requested for his or her return. In a single case, the memo famous the dad and mom mentioned they’ll “do all the things attainable” to get their daughter overseas once more “as a result of she had obtained demise threats.”
For the reason that deportation try over the vacation weekend, attorneys for the youngsters, who crossed the border with out authorized guardians and at the moment are below the care of the Workplace of Refugee Resettlement, have been on excessive alert.
One lawyer with the nonprofit Estrella del Paso in Texas mentioned in sworn statements that on Sept. 5 she obtained an nameless name from a shelter that the “authorities was planning to repatriate all kids below the ORR custody with out making any bulletins.”
One other lawyer, Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, deputy director of the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Mission in Arizona, equally mentioned the identical day that “credible studies continued to stream in from the community concerning the upcoming elimination of Honduran kids.”
The services that didn’t get up the Guatemalan kids in the course of the night time 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 concerning the care of the youngsters in your care facility will lead to immediate authorized motion and will lead to civil and legal penalties and expenses, in addition to suspension and termination of contractual relations together with your facility,” states the letter, which was obtained by The Instances.
The letter frightened shelters and foster households, mentioned Shaina Aber, government director of the Acacia Middle for Justice.
“We’ve heard from shelters and foster households that they’re very nervous and so they 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 do not need authority to take away them with out offering them a possibility to have their instances for asylum heard earlier than an immigration decide.
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 during the lawsuit.
“I’m sure that individuals there who harm me and threatened to kill me earlier than will as soon as once more harm me and can perform their threats to kill me,” mentioned one 17-year-old recognized as D.I.R. in courtroom information.
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 woman dwelling in foster care in Riverside. She’s in immigration proceedings and is frightened of being despatched again. Each are being represented by the Immigrant Defenders Legislation 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, vice chairman of litigation and authorized technique for the Nationwide Immigration Legislation Middle. Some relations in Guatemala additionally obtained 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’ll do that to all kids in ORR custody of each nationality.”
“That’s the worst-case situation,” he mentioned.
Guatemalan officers have publicly acknowledged efforts to coordinate with the U.S. to obtain a whole lot of youngsters presently held in U.S. services.
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 yr, when a whole lot 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 enjoying out in Illinois and Arizona.
On Thursday, a federal decide in Arizona quickly blocked the Trump administration from eradicating dozens of Guatemalan and Honduran kids dwelling there in shelters or foster care. Equally, a federal decide 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 with no guardian, and really susceptible,” mentioned Laura Smith, government director of the Youngsters’s Authorized Middle in Chicago and an lawyer on the Illinois case, who additionally bought phrase from a facility shortly after Labor Day that immigration officers have been readying to take custody of Honduran kids. “So I’m shocked by the administration’s assaults.”
The transfer to deport unaccompanied kids comes amid broader efforts to strip away protections for younger immigrants. As an illustration, the administration has sought to finish funding for legal professionals who signify unaccompanied kids. It’s also looking for to finish a decades-old settlement that requires minimal requirements of care for kids held in detention.
