A legal aid group filed suit to preemptively block the U.S. government from deporting about a dozen Honduran children, saying it had received “credible” information that plans to remove the minors were imminent.
The Arizona-based Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project said it added the Honduran children to a lawsuit filed the previous weekend that led a judge to temporarily block the deportation of dozens of migrant children to Guatemala. The organization said reports indicated the government would “imminently move forward with a plan to illegally remove Honduran children in government custody as soon as this weekend, in direct violation of their right to seek protection in the United States and despite ongoing litigation that blocked similar attempted extra-legal removals for children from Guatemala.”
The failed attempt to remove Guatemalan children unfolded over a Labor Day weekend night, when lawyers and advocates began receiving reports that youths in government custody had been awakened and were being taken to an airport. Attorneys, including Laura Peña, said they had only hours — and in some cases a matter of minutes — to seek emergency court relief to prevent flights out of the country. Peña and other advocates reported frantic phone calls, legal filings and a 2:36 a.m. call to a judge as they raced to stop what they described as sudden removal actions.
Attorneys said they eventually secured a temporary court order that halted the flights for at least two weeks. The episode echoed a chaotic March weekend when hundreds of Venezuelan migrants were flown to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador despite last-minute legal interventions. That removal, too, prompted criticism from lawyers and rights groups over the timing and secrecy of government actions.
The Guatemalan government provided a report, obtained by The Associated Press through a U.S.-based human rights organization, that appears to contradict a central claim from the U.S. administration that families wanted their children returned. According to the report, 50 of 115 families contacted said they wanted their children to remain in the United States.
FIRRP said it did not immediately provide to The Associated Press the underlying details of the reports that spurred its addition of Honduran children to the litigation. The organization framed its action as a safeguard against what it described as expedited removals that would deny children the opportunity to seek protection in the United States.
The legal filings aim to prevent what advocates call “extra-legal” removals — removals that bypass the established protections and screening processes available to children who may be eligible for asylum or other forms of relief. Attorneys representing migrant children have argued in court that such removals would violate federal law and the rights of the children to pursue protection claims.
Federal judges have intervened repeatedly in recent months as the administration has sought to accelerate deportations and decrease the time migrant families and unaccompanied children spend in U.S. custody. Those interventions have resulted in temporary restraining orders and injunctions in several instances, as courts weigh the government’s authority to execute rapid removals against statutory safeguards and humanitarian concerns.
Administration officials have defended efforts to curb illegal migration and to return migrants to their home countries when authorities determine such action is lawful. But the incidents involving Guatemalan and Venezuelan minors have raised questions among advocates and some foreign governments about how decisions to remove children are reached and whether families had meaningful input.
Legal challenges and public scrutiny are expected to continue as the cases proceed through federal courts. Advocates say further litigation will test the balance between the administration’s stated immigration enforcement priorities and the legal protections afforded to children in U.S. custody.
At the time of the filing, the immediate status of the dozen Honduran children remained tied to the ongoing litigation that produced the earlier temporary block on departures. The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project said its lawsuit seeks to ensure that any attempts to remove children are halted while courts consider whether the government followed lawful procedures and respected the children’s rights to seek protection in the United States.