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Federal judge stopped it on Thursday Trump administration After the government retreated, it went from expelling hundreds of Guatemalan minors to their home country, claiming that they intend to reunite with their parents.
Judge Timothy Kelly, who issued the order, expressed his suspicion of the removal at a hearing last week and pointed to the announcement of minors who said they were worried that they would face violence or neglect if they were returned to Guatemala.
“It goes without saying that this has caused irreparable harm,” Kelly said of their possible removal.
Trump-appointed Kelly also filed a report with the Guatemala Attorney General’s Office, where the official brought the plaintiff to the court. The report is in response to the Refugee Resettlement Office for Health and Public Services, notifying the Guatemala government that plans to return more than 600 minors to Guatemala. No parents asked their children to return, the report said. Welch said she had no evidence to contradict the report.
A sign was displayed outside the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services headquarters on June 2, 2025 in Washington, DC (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
“I don’t have any reports on the Guatemalan agricultural report that specifically mentions,” Welch said.
The judge’s order stems from a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration after federal authorities woke up 70 minors, aged midnight on Labor Day weekend, in HHS custody and transferred them to a plane in Guatemala.
Some minor lawyers have obtained emergency restraining orders from Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, which has stopped them from looming Deportation. Kelly’s command effectively extended the order indefinitely.
The Trump administration can appeal the decision. Fox News Digital contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Attorneys for minors argue that their clients are at risk of being dismissed despite some pending asylum cases or other legal claims that the court has not yet fully reviewed.
Lawyers challenge to deport hundreds of minors to Guatemala
A woman showed Guatemalan immigrants in a bus to Guatemalan immigrants after arriving at Guatemalan air base on August 31, 2025. (Johan Ordonez/AFP via Getty Images)
Sooknanan initially settled the lawsuit over Labor Day weekend, but Kelly has since taken over the case.
Trump administration officials, including Department of Homeland Security A spokesman had mocked Sooknanan when he issued the order, claiming that the judge was preventing the child from returning to his parents.
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“The Shining Judge [Sooknanan] “The *United* Guatemalan children’s flight with their families is blocked,” DHS spokesman Tricia McLaughlin wrote on social media at the time. “Now these children must go to shelters.” It’s disgusting and immoral. ”
Attorneys for minors argued in court documents that trafficking and immigration laws “prevent unaccompanied children from being driven away under the cover of any government’s whim.” Attorneys said the minors involved are currently in custody of health and public services and have no legal guardians in the United States.
