US judge nominated by Trump blocks move to deport Guatemalan kids, rejects ‘family reunion’ argument

A US judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s bid to deport Guatemalan children who came to the country alone, in the latest move in the Republican leader’s legal battle over immigration crackdown.

US District Judge Timothy J Kelly, nominated by Trump himself, pronounced the ruling as the Trump administration attempted to remove Guatemalan migrant children who were living in government shelters and foster care over the Labour Day weekend.

Trump administration officials said they were seeking to reunify children with parents who wanted them returned home. “But that explanation crumbled like a house of cards about a week later,” Kelly wrote. “There is no evidence before the Court that the parents of these children sought their return.”

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has reasserted the administration’s claims that the parents of the migrant children have requested to be reunited with their kids.

McLaughlin said, “This judge is blocking efforts to REUNIFY CHILDREN with their families. Now these children will have to go to shelters. All just to ‘get Trump.’ This is disgraceful and immoral.”

‘Children face dangers in other countries’

Advocates for the children also submitted a whistleblower account to the court that suggests many of the children who were found eligible for deportation had likely been victims of child abuse, like death threats, gang violence, and human trafficking, Kelly noted in his order.

“The court saw through the government’s repeated misrepresentations of critical facts to try to justify the indefensible targeting of vulnerable children who would have faced danger if forcibly sent to other countries,” Efrén C. Olivares, vice president of litigation & legal strategy at the National Immigration Law Center, said in a statement.

There was already a temporary order in place preventing the removal of Guatemalan children. But that was set to expire Tuesday. Kelly granted a preliminary injunction extends that temporary protection indefinitely, although the government can appeal.

Late-night op pushes children out of home

In a late-night operation on August 30, the administration informed shelters housing unaccompanied migrant children that the children would be returned to Guatemala and needed to be prepared for departure within hours.

“Our clients were terrified—many had tear-soaked faces and some were visibly shaking with fear,” Mishan Wroe, directing attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, one of the plaintiff attorneys, said in a statement.

With inputs from AP