Judge blocks flights sending hundreds of children back to Guatemala

“I have the government attempting to remove minor children from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend," federal judge Sparkle Sooknanan said.

DailyBeastie.Com

9/1/202511 min read

A person boards a plane in Harlingen, Texas, on Aug. 31, 2025, as charter buses are pulled into the side of the airport to unload passengers. | Valerie Gonzalez/AP

The judge, a Biden appointee, initially scheduled a virtual hearing on the matter for 3 p.m. Sunday, but later moved up the hearing to 12:30 p.m. after being notified that some minors covered by the suit were “in the process of being removed from the United States.”

“I have the government attempting to remove minor children from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend, which is surprising, but here we are,” Sooknanan said at the hastily assembled hearing.

The judge also said, “I have conflicting narratives from both sides here,” adding that what she heard from the advocates for the children “doesn’t quite line up with what I’m getting from the government.”

The roughly 600 children arrived in the United States alone and are currently in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. According to lawyers for the children, the administration is preparing to send them back to Guatemala without notice or a chance to contest their deportation — in some cases abruptly halting their pending immigration proceedings.

The attorneys say the Trump administration has described the deportation effort as part of a “first of its kind pilot program” in cooperation with the Guatemalan government.

Relatives of unaccompanied minors await updates outside La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City on Aug. 31, 2025. | Moises Castillo/AP

Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign disputed that the transfer of children constituted deportations at all, but would actually be reunifications of children and their parents.

“These are not removals under the statute,” Ensign said. “These are repatriations. ... It’s outrageous that the plaintiffs are trying to interfere with these reunifications.”

During the hearing, Ensign said the planes involved were currently on the ground, though one may have taken off and returned to the U.S. with the children on board. He said the effort was the result of extensive discussions with the Guatemalan government, which confirmed the parents’ desire to bring the children back.

“All of these children have parents or guardians in Guatemala who have requested their return,” Ensign said.

However, immigrant rights advocates said that was not true in at least some of the cases, and they accused the Trump administration of short-circuiting the required legal process.

“There are many children who do not meet the criteria, Mr. Ensign described,” attorney Efrén Olivares of the National Immigration Law Center said. He said some of the children were sitting on planes at airports in Harlingen and El Paso, Texas.

The judge said, “I have conflicting narratives from both sides here,” adding that what she heard from the advocates for the children “doesn’t quite line up with what I’m getting from the government.”

The children who filed the lawsuit are identified only by initials and range in age from 10 to 17 years old, in addition to two identified only as “minors.” Sooknanan’s initial order covered only the 10 children named as plaintiffs, but she later expanded it to cover all such children “not subject to an executable final order of removal.”

The lawsuit was filed just after 1 a.m. Sunday and the request for emergency relief less than a half hour later, court records show. The case has not yet been formally assigned to a judge, but Sooknanan is designated as the emergency judge for the U.S. District Court in Washington for most of the Labor Day holiday weekend.

In the suit, NILC attorneys said federal immigration laws exempt unaccompanied children from expedited deportation proceedings and provide additional protections for those seeking asylum.

“All unaccompanied children — regardless of the circumstances of their arrival to the United States — receive the benefit of full immigration proceedings, including a hearing on claims for relief before an immigration judge,” they wrote. “Defendants’ actions are thus exposing children to multiple harms in returning them to a country where they fear persecution and by flouting their legal obligations to care for them in the United States.”

The judge began the Sunday afternoon hearing by making sure that the Justice Department received her expanded order and had made sure government officials at HHS and the Department of Homeland Security were aware of it.

“I do not want there to be any ambiguity about what I am ordering,” Sooknanan said. The Justice Department later told the court in a report that all the children who had been on planes ready to go to Guatemala had deplaned in the United States.

The episode is reminiscent of the extraordinary rush to halt President Donald Trump’s effort to summarily deport more than 130 Venezuelans to an anti-terrorism prison in El Salvador in March, using his wartime authority under the Alien Enemies Act.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, issued a similarly quick ruling based on an overnight lawsuit, racing to halt flights carrying the Venezuelans after finding that the Trump administration appeared to be violating the immigrants’ due process rights. But the administration carried out the flights anyway, claiming they had already left U.S. airspace and, therefore, were not subject to Boasberg’s command. Justice Department officials also argued that Boasberg’s oral order in court was not binding.

Ensign was the Trump administration lawyer arguing that case as well. Sooknanan began the hearing by instructing Ensign to make certain the Trump administration was aware of her broad blockade on the deportation effort — a nod to Boasberg’s earlier concern that the administration had defied the clear intent of his directive.

Ensign argued that the government’s authority to send the children back to Guatemala had been used by previous administrations.

But lawyers for the children said at least some of the children set to be sent to Guatemala did not want to return, had no such request from their parents, and have legitimate fears about going back.

“It is a dark and dangerous moment for this country when our government chooses to target orphaned 10-year-olds and denies them their most basic legal right to present their case before an immigration judge,” Olivares said in a statement before the hearing.

Sooknanan, undoubtedly aware of the machinations in the high-profile case Boasberg handled on a weekend just over five months ago, sounded suspicious that the mass transfer of children early on the Sunday morning of a holiday weekend was routine and legally justified.

The suit filed in Washington on Sunday came on the heels of a similar case filed in federal court in Chicago on Saturday. Details of that suit were not immediately available, but U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis halted the deportation of as many as four Guatemalan minors until Wednesday. Alexakis, a Biden appointee, also scheduled a hearing that day on the issue.

Spokespeople for DHS and HHS did not reply to requests for comment Sunday. Alexakis indicated that the Trump administration is currently “investigating” the location of the children in her case to determine whether any have already been deported or relocated from Illinois.

Laura Smith, the attorney who filed the Chicago case, said Sunday that despite Sooknanan’s order some of the Guatemalan children were being loaded onto a plane in Harlingen, Texas.

There were also indications Sunday that some of the facilities in which the children have been housed may be resisting instructions to turn them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In a memo dated Sunday and obtained by POLITICO, the acting director of HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, Angie Salazar, threatened civil lawsuits and possible criminal prosecution against any ORR contractors who fail to comply with “lawful requests” from her agency. Salazar did not elaborate on the nature of the requests that were not being complied with.

“When ORR makes a decision regarding the care and custody of a child consistent with and in furtherance of its statutory and legal obligations, your refusal to comply can materially interfere with ORR’s ability to effectively complete its statutory mission,” Salazar wrote.

“Negligent or intentional failure to comply with lawful requests from ORR regarding the care of children in your care facility will result in prompt legal action, and may result in civil and criminal penalties and charges, as well as suspension and termination of contractual relations with your facility.”

A time-stamp on Salazar’s memo indicates it was signed about five hours after Sooknanan’s early morning order.

A federal judge has ordered an emergency halt to a plan by the Trump administration to send more than 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan children back to their home country — some within a matter of hours — after immigrant advocacy groups sued, calling the unannounced plan illegal.

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan issued the order just after 4 a.m. Sunday, finding that the “exigent circumstances” described in the lawsuit warranted immediate action “to maintain the status quo until a hearing can be set.”

Real life hero U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan stopped Trump and Kristi Noem from deporting 300 unaccompanied children to Guatamala in the middle of the night.

What kind of White Supremacist asshole would you have to be to lust after deporting 300 children in the middle of the night or in broad daylight for that matter?

What Democrats won't tell you is that this misconduct by federal officials are criminal constitutional law violations.

Let me say it again: Noem is violating 300 persons U.S. Const. rights to a criminal degree.

Noem and Republicans are so ignorant and disdainful of law and constitution they don't know that any person on U.S. soil has U.S. Constitutional rights and thus is entitled to equal application of federal law and due process.

ICE agents routinely tell their kidnap victims, "You have no rights" as they kidnap and jail them.

Noem and Republicans either have no idea they are committing criminal constitutional crimes, or they don't give a damn because they know broke dick Democrats aren't going to prosecute Republicans or Trump for any kind of federal criminal law violation.

Trump and Republicans commit felonies every week if not every single day, yet I'll be damned if Democrats will prosecute Trump or any Republican in 2028 for violating federal criminal law during Trump's second term.

https://www.newsweek.com/nilc-lawsuit-guatemalan-children-deportation-trump-administration-2122325

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, serving as the emergency judge over the Labor Day weekend, issued an emergency order early Sunday that halted the Trump administration's apparent plan to deport more than 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan children.

The order came just hours after immigrant advocacy groups filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the unannounced removals.

Sooknanan rescheduled a hearing from 3 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. after learning that some children were already being prepared for removal. In her ruling, Sooknanan ordered the government to immediately cease all efforts to transfer or repatriate any child covered by the lawsuit, which was filed by the National Immigration Law Center (NILC). The putative class includes all Guatemalan minors in federal custody as of August 31 who do not have final removal orders.

Newsweek has reached out to the White House for comment via email on Sunday.

Why It Matters

As of August 2025, there are just under 2,000 children in Health and Human Services (HHS) custody, with a majority originating from Central American countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, according to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).

The Trump administration has carried out more so-called welfare checks of immigrant children across the U.S. and has ramped up enforcement actions such as placing children in expedited removal proceedings. Immigrant advocates have raised concerns about these practices. Unaccompanied children are considered a protected and vulnerable group.

The case raises urgent questions about the treatment of vulnerable migrant children and the erosion of legal safeguards under federal immigration law. At stake are protections enshrined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), which mandates due process and prohibits expedited removal of unaccompanied minors from non-contiguous countries. The lawsuit also highlights concerns about discrimination, lack of access to counsel, and potential violations of the Fifth Amendment.

What To Know

Sooknanan's order came after attorneys alerted the court that Guatemalan children were already being moved toward removal. The judge instructed the government to stop all transfers and confirmed that the class includes minors in the custody of the ORR who lack executable removal orders.

During the hearing, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign acknowledged that one flight may have departed but returned. He added all children covered by the lawsuit remain in U.S. custody and no further flights will leave under the court's directive. Attorneys for the children said some remain on planes in Harlingen and El Paso, Texas, ABC News reported.

The NILC lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of coordinating with the Guatemalan government to repatriate more than 600 minors without legal hearings. The complaint argues that this violates federal statutes protecting unaccompanied children and denies them the opportunity to seek asylum or contest removal.

According to NILC attorneys, the Trump administration intended to deport the children within hours under a "pilot program" coordinated with the Guatemalan government. The plan reportedly included transferring minors from ORR custody to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for removal, bypassing ongoing immigration proceedings.

What People Are Saying

Efrén C. Olivares, vice president of litigation and legal strategy at the NILC, said: "It is a dark and dangerous moment for this country when our government chooses to target orphaned 10-year-olds and denies them their most basic legal right to present their case before an immigration judge. The Constitution and federal laws provide robust protections to unaccompanied minors specifically because of the unique risks they face. We are determined to use every legal tool at our disposal to force the administration to respect the law and not send any child to danger."

The NILC legal filing said: "Defendants' actions are thus exposing children to multiple harms in returning them to a country where they fear persecution and by flouting their legal obligations to care for them in the United States."

Gladis Molina Alt, executive director for the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, previously told Newsweek: "Every child in U.S. custody has the right to due process, to seek protection under current asylum law, legal counsel, and an individualized decision that hears their claim for protection first. To strip away those protections is to put children's lives on the line. We will not stand by while the government treats children as political pawns instead of human beings with rights, voices, and futures."

Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, previously told Newsweek: "Reports that the administration is planning to return hundreds of unaccompanied Guatemalan children raise serious concerns about whether due process and child welfare standards are being upheld.

"Protections for these children were enacted with bipartisan support to ensure that vulnerable children are screened for trafficking, abuse, or fear of persecution before any decision is made about their future. Any new policy must be consistent with these longstanding legal protections and grounded in child welfare best practices."

What Happens Next?

The court will continue reviewing the case to determine whether the emergency order should be extended or converted into a preliminary injunction. If the administration is found to have violated federal law, broader restrictions on deportation procedures for unaccompanied minors may follow.

Additional hearings and filings are expected in the coming days.