As Guatemalan kids sit in planes on tarmac, judge orders they stay in the US, for now

President Donald Trump walks at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling Va Saturday Aug AP Photo Manuel Balce Ceneta AP Manuel Balce Ceneta President Donald Trump walks at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling Va Saturday Aug AP Photo Manuel Balce Ceneta AP Manuel Balce Ceneta HARLINGEN Texas AP With migrant children waiting on tarmacs to be sent to their native Guatemala a federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked the flights siding with attorneys for the children who stated the executive was emerging laws and sending their clients to possible peril The extraordinary drama played out overnight on a holiday weekend and vaulted from tarmacs in Texas to a courtroom in Washington It was the latest showdown over the Trump administration s crackdown on immigration and the latest clash between the administration s enforcement efforts and legal safeguards that Congress created for vulnerable immigrants Guatemalan children who arrived at the dividing line without their parents or guardians will stay for at least two weeks while the legal fight unfolds according to the ruling I do not want there to be any ambiguity reported U S District Judge Sparkle L Sooknanan Minutes after her hastily scheduled hearing five charter buses pulled up to a plane at Valley International Airport in Harlingen Texas a hub for deportation flights Hours earlier executives had walked dozens of passengers perhaps toward the plane in an area restricted to executive planes Passengers wore colored clothing typically used in government-run shelters for migrant children This idea that on a long weekend in the dead of night they would wake up these vulnerable children and put them on a plane irrespective of the constitutional protections that they had is something that should shock the conscience of all Americans announced Kica Matos president of the National Immigration Law Center which represents the children following Sunday s hearing The Homeland Shield Department did not directly respond to a request for comment on the ruling The chaotic rapid-fire developments resembled a March weekend showdown over the deportation of hundreds of Venezuelans to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador Advocates implored a federal judge to halt deportations they concluded were imminent while the Trump administration was silent about its plans In that occurrence the judge appeared in civilian clothes for a Saturday night hearing and tried to block the flights but they went ahead with the administration saying the court order came too late The administration insisted it was reuniting the Guatemalan children at the Central American nation s request with parents or guardians who sought their return Lawyers for at least certain of the children say that s untrue and argue that in any event government still would have to follow a legal process that they did not One girl declared her parents in Guatemala got a strange phone call a minimal weeks ago saying the U S was deporting her declared one of the plaintiff attorneys Efr n C Olivares The -year-old who s been living in a New York shelter revealed in a court filing that she s an honors apprentice about to start th grade loves living in the U S and is deeply afraid of being deported Other children identified only by their initials disclosed in court documents that they had been neglected abandoned physically threatened or abused in their home country I do not have any family in Guatemala that can take good care of me a -year-old explained in a court filing A -year-old recalled experiencing threats against my life in Guatemala If I am sent back I believe I will be in danger the teen added Sunday s court hearing came in a incident filed in federal court in Washington but similar legal actions also were filed elsewhere In a lawsuit in Arizona the Florence Immigrant Refugee Rights Project declared one of its clients is a -year-old asylum-seeker who has chronic kidney ailment necessities dialysis to stay alive and will need a kidney transplant Two other plaintiffs a -year-old boy and his -year-old sister don t have family in Guatemala and don t want to return according to the group As the developments played out in the U S families gathered at an air base in Guatemala s capital Guatemala City in anticipation of the flights Gilberto L pez revealed he drove through the night from his remote town after his -year-old nephew called at midnight to say he was being deported from Texas The boy left Guatemala two years ago at age to work in the U S and was detained about a month ago L pez stated Alarm bells for immigrant advocates Migrant children who arrive in the U S without their parents or guardians are routinely handed over to the Department of Medical and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement They often live in government-supervised shelters or with foster care families until they can be circulated to a sponsor usually a relative in the U S Multiple of those from Guatemala request asylum or pursue other legal avenues to get permission to stay An attorney with the National Center for Youth Law reported the organization starting hearing a scant weeks ago from legal amenity providers that Homeland Assurance Investigations agents were interviewing children particularly Guatemalans in facilities of the Office of Refugee Resettlement The agents solicited the children about their relatives in Guatemala commented the attorney Becky Wolozin Then on Friday advocates began getting word that their young clients immigration court hearings were being canceled Wolozin explained Shaina Aber of Acacia Center for Justice an immigrant legal defense group noted it was notified Saturday evening that personnel had drafted a list of children to return to Guatemala Advocates learned that the flights would leave from the Texas cities of Harlingen and El Paso Aber noted The authorities had two planes on the ground in Harlingen and one in El Paso Texas Olivares declared based on witness accounts Governing body lawyer Drew Ensign described the judge that one plane might have taken off but returned White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller announced on X that the Guatemalan leadership formally requested the children s return and that the judge was refusing to let them reunify with their parents Judge got a a m call The judge disclosed she was awakened at a m to address the emergency filing from the children s lawyers who wrote in bold type that flights might be leaving within the ensuing two to four hours Sooknanan spent hours trying to reach federal attorneys and get answers she announced I have the establishment attempting to remove unaccompanied minors from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend which is surprising Sooknanan disclosed at the midday hearing later adding Absent action by the courts all of those children would have been returned to Guatemala potentially to very dangerous situations The Trump administration is planning to remove nearly Guatemalan children who came to the U S unaccompanied according to a letter sent Friday by Sen Ron Wyden an Oregon Democrat Late Sunday Guatemala s administration announced in a message that it had originally proposed the transfer of the minors to U S Homeland Prevention Secretary Kristi Noem during her visit to the country in July Guatemala s concern was that hundreds of minors would soon age out of the juvenile facilities where they were held and be sent to adult detention centers It stressed that it was ready to receive the minors when due process was completed in the U S following established protocols Santana disclosed from Washington and Peltz from New York Associated Press writers Sonia P rez D in Guatemala City and Corey Williams in Detroit contributed Source