A federal judge on Aug. 31 issued a restraining order blocking the Trump administration from deporting 10 unaccompanied migrant Guatemalan children and potentially hundreds more in federal custody.
Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary restraining order stopping the Trump administration from deporting the children, ages 10 to 17, for 14 days after the National Immigration Law Center filed an emergency request.
Migrant children who arrive in the United States without a parent or guardian are classified as unaccompanied minors and sent to a shelter managed by the Office of Refugee Resettlement until they can be placed with a family member or foster home, a process outlined in federal law.
Efrén C. Olivares, an attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, hailed the judge’s decision.
"In the dead of night on a holiday weekend, the Trump administration ripped vulnerable, frightened children from their beds and attempted to return them to danger in Guatemala," Olivares said in a statement. "We are heartened the court prevented this injustice from occurring before hundreds of children suffered irreparable harm."
