(WASHINGTON) -- A federal judge on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from deporting unaccompanied minors to Guatemala, saying the government's claims that it was simply reuniting children with their parents "crumbled like a house of cards."
The move came 18 days after government officials put dozens of children on planes destined for their home country. An emergency order prevented the children from being removed.
During the initial emergency hearing on Aug. 31, the government claimed the children were being reunited with their parents in coordination with the Guatemalan government.
"But that explanation crumbled like a house of cards about a week later," U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly wrote in Thursday's ruling.
"There is no evidence before the Court that the parents of these children sought their return," wrote Judge Kelly. "To the contrary, the Guatemalan Attorney General reports that officials could not even track down parents for most of the children whom Defendants found eligible for their 'reunification' plan. And none of those that were located had asked for their children to come back to Guatemala."
The judge, a Trump appointee, noted the swift attempt by several government agencies to remove the children, who were in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services.
"Those agencies told the children's caretakers, who were hearing about the plan for the first time, to have them ready for pickup in as little as two hours. The children were roused from their beds in the middle of the night and driven to an airport, where some were loaded onto planes," Kelly wrote.
Responding to the ruling, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, "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."
In his ruling, Kelly barred the administration from deporting any unaccompanied Guatemalan child who has not received a final order of removal or permission from the attorney general to voluntarily depart. Kelly says the government is blocked from deporting these children while the case continues.
While Judge Kelly's order only applies to Guatemalan children, attorneys for the minors had notified the court that other children from different countries could also be targeted for removal.
In one court filing, attorneys claimed a legal service provider in Illinois had been told by an Office of Refugee Resettlement official that "ICE may soon be taking into custody minors from the country of Honduras with the intent to repatriate them to their home country."
Legal service providers also sounded the alarm about children from El Salvador being prepped for removal once their scheduled hearings were removed from the dockets, in a similar fashion to the Guatemalan children.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.