Judge blocks flights sending hundreds of children back to Guatemala

Source: Politico

A federal judge has ordered an emergency halt to a plan by the Trump administration to send more than 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan children back to their home country — some within a matter of hours — after immigrant advocacy groups sued, calling the unannounced plan illegal.

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan issued the order just after 4 a.m. Sunday, finding that the “exigent circumstances” described in the lawsuit warranted immediate action “to maintain the status quo until a hearing can be set.”

The judge, a Biden appointee, initially scheduled a virtual hearing on the matter for 3 p.m. Sunday, but later moved up the hearing to 12:30 p.m. after being notified that some minors covered by the suit were “in the process of being removed from the United States.”

“I have the government attempting to remove minor children from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend, which is surprising, but here we are,” Sooknanan said at the hastily assembled hearing.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/31/judge-blocks-deportation-guatemalan-children-00538395