reported<\/a> that the Trump administration was moving to repatriate hundreds of Guatemalan children who arrived to the US unaccompanied, in coordination with the Guatemalan government.\n <\/p>\n\n A federal judge temporarily blocked the removals of unaccompanied Guatemalan minors in US custody early Sunday, though plans appeared to still be underway, according to an immigration attorney representing Guatemalan children who were transported out of their shelter after the judge\u2019s ruling.\n <\/p>\n
\n Legal service providers who work with children were notified by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is charged with the care of migrant kids, that Guatemala had \u201crequested the return of certain unaccompanied alien children in federal custody for the purposes of reunifying the UAC with suitable family members,\u201d according to a notice obtained by CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n The children, ranging in age, are believed to not have a parent in the US, though they may have a relative, and have a parent or legal guardian in Guatemala. The criteria also includes children who do not have a pending asylum case and won\u2019t be trafficked upon their return, according to the notice.\n <\/p>\n
\n But attorneys who represent some of the children say that those who have been identified are at risk if returned to Guatemala and are in ongoing immigration proceedings.\n <\/p>\n
\n In a lawsuit filed early Sunday to block the effort, attorneys argued that the Trump administration is violating US law, which affords unaccompanied migrants special protections and ensures kids aren\u2019t removed without due process or the opportunity to seek relief from deportation.\n <\/p>\n
\n CNN reached out to the White House, as well as the departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security for comment.\n <\/p>\n
\n The plaintiffs in the case, which was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, <\/strong>are 10 unaccompanied minors from Guatemala, ranging from ages 10 to 17, who have been identified for removal, and the majority of whom are in ongoing immigration proceedings.\n <\/p>\n\n One of those children, a 10-year-old indigenous child, \u201csuffered abuse and neglect from other caregivers\u201d in Guatemala. Her mother is deceased.\n <\/p>\n
\n Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan ordered the US government not remove any of the individual plaintiffs for two weeks and set a hearing for Sunday afternoon.\n <\/p>\n
\n The immigration attorney who represents multiple Guatemalan kids told CNN that the children were \u201cterrified and confused.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe reaction when you explain what\u2019s happening is disbelief. They\u2019re very scared. They all say they\u2019re afraid to return to Guatemala for different reasons,\u201d the attorney said. \u201cThey were literally taken out of their beds in the middle of the night, on a holiday weekend.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Late Saturday, the Office of Refugee Resettlement also notified shelter providers who care for unaccompanied migrant children that kids had been identified \u201cfor reunification with their parents and or legal guardians\u201d in country of origin and must be prepared to be discharged within two hours, or four hours if the child is in a foster care program, upon receiving notification, according to a notice obtained by CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n The children, the notice states, must be travel ready, including proper documentation, medication, personal belongings, and two prepared sack lunches.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Tweet Email Link The repatriation of Guatemalan children in US government custody is expected to begin Sunday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-387259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115123838218225684","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}