Judge Blocks the Removal of Hundreds of Guatemalan Children, Some Already Aboard Planes

On August 31, 2025, U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan issued a 14-day temporary restraining order blocking the government from removing roughly 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan children from federal custody. The operation began overnight without advance notice, with children taken from Department of Health and Human Services shelters and some already on aircraft when the order issued. Lawyers for the children argued the removals violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which since 2002 has required HHS to shelter unaccompanied minors and to place them in full immigration proceedings, with a finding that return serves the child's best interests, before they can be sent home. The Justice Department said Guatemala had requested the children's return and that parents had consented.

Unaccompanied minors receive statutory protections precisely because they cannot assert claims for themselves and may face abuse or persecution on return. Removing them overnight, without notice to their attorneys or guardians and without immigration hearings, bypassed the process Congress built for exactly that population.

One attorney described the operation as "an enormously rushed, middle-of-the-night operation." Counsel for the children disputed that guardians had been notified or had consented. The temporary restraining order paused the removals while the case proceeded.