What to know about Guatemalan migrant children and efforts to send them home

WASHINGTON AP Over Labor Day weekend the Trump administration attempted to remove Guatemalan children who had come to the U S alone and were living in shelters or with foster care families in the U S Advocates who represent migrant children in court filed lawsuits across the country seeking to stop the regime from removing the children and on Sunday a federal judge stepped in to order that the kids at least temporarily stay in the U S The Trump administration has argued in court and on social media that they re doing this to reunite the children with their families back home at the behest of the Guatemalan ruling body and blamed advocates and the judge for stepping in Advocates who sued announced the children they represent have announced they fear going home and that the governing body by operating in the dead of night and by bypassing immigration courts is not following laws designed to protect migrant children Here s a look at where things stand now The legal proceedings across the country There are at least three legal cases going on around the country Arizona Washington D C and Illinois Representatives for unaccompanied migrant children are trying to stop the establishment from removing Guatemalan children who don t have final orders of removal from the country Those children are living in a organization of shelters or foster care arrangements overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement which falls under the Department of Physical condition and Human Services In Illinois lawyers representing four minor children who were identified only by their initials commented they had received notice on Aug that U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement intended to take the children from the shelters where they were being held under U S executive care sometime on Aug or Sept and remove them from the U S A judge blocked them from being taken out of the country at least until Wednesday afternoon A hearing in the situation is set for Wednesday morning In Arizona the Florence Immigrant Refugee Rights Project which provides legal services for unaccompanied migrant children filed a lawsuit on behalf of children from Guatemala The children were between the ages of three and and living in shelters in the Phoenix and Tucson areas that care for unaccompanied migrant children U S District Judge Rosemary Marquez on Sunday blocked the Trump administration from removing those children for at least two weeks She disclosed specific children may have been in the process of being removed at the time and ordered the regime to return them to the U S promptly In Washington D C Judge Sparkle L Sooknanan ordered a -day temporary restraining order preventing the administration from removing Guatemalan children in Office of Refugee Resettlement custody and sending them back to Guatemala What is Guatemala saying about this In July the head of Guatemala s immigration amenity disclosed the ruling body was looking to repatriate unaccompanied minors who were being held in U S facilities During a news conference on Monday Guatemalan President Bernardo Ar valo shed more light on the issue Ar valo commented the country s foreign affairs minister and ambassador to the United States toured detention facilities for minors and adults in the United States in March and were very concerned especially about minors who were going to turn The authorities decided it had to act in the best interest of the children to prevent them from being moved to adult detention centers He announced Guatemala advised the U S that the cabinet was willing to receive all unaccompanied minors who craved to return to Guatemala voluntarily Ar valo explained that his administration began working to identify the minors their families and make arrangements for those willing to return those who demanded to wait out their legal process in the U S and those who judges allowed to remain in the U S with a relative Guatemala is capable of receiving about minors per week he declared It depends on our maximum to identify relatives to facilitate a safe return he declared The goal is that none of the children end up being institutionalized The president did not answer when solicited if the number to be sent on Sunday surprised Guatemala s regime or whether he thought the U S governing body carried out due process before putting the minors on planes He reported his administration has reported the U S leadership that once a judge decides an unaccompanied Guatemalan child cannot remain in the U S Guatemala will take them and reintegrate them We have been in coordination with the United States about this but the decision of the sending the number that they are going to send and the rhythm at which they are going to send is a U S leadership decision Ar valo announced How several children could be sent home One of the biggest questions outstanding is how a large number of Guatemalan children will be sent back to Guatemala The head of Guatemala s immigration provision put the number at in July Then on Friday Democratic Sen Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote a letter to the Office of Refugee Resettlement saying that according to whistleblower accounts the office was intending to remove nearly Guatemalan children Also on Friday Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Mart nez declared the exact number was in flux but noted they were now discussing a little over The U S regime indicated in a status analysis filed Sunday in the Washington D C matter that children had been on planes to go to Guatemala and that those children were being returned to Office of Refugee Resettlement custody after the judge s ruling There were concluded to be two planes in Harlingen Texas and possibly another one in El Paso on Sunday announced the National Immigration Law Center That is the group that filed a lawsuit Sunday in Washington D C to stop the removals But it s not clear if there were other children who had been removed from shelters and were en way to the planes before the judge entered the temporary restraining order Migrant kids have special protections Migrant children traveling alone are usually entrusted to U S authorities care and there are various legal protections designed to protect them once they re in the U S and navigating the immigration system The Trafficking Casualties Protection Reauthorization Act of is one of the key pieces of regulation designed to protect unaccompanied migrant children With selected limited exceptions it generally requires that children be placed in the least restrictive setting manageable which generally means that they can be published to a sponsor such as a relative in the U S while their immigration proceedings play out The children can apply for a specially protected status if they can t return to their home country because of abuse or neglect and they can also apply for asylum In court filings advocates for Guatemalan children noted that only an immigration judge can decide whether an unaccompanied minor can voluntarily depart the U S Perez shared from Guatemala City Associated Press reporter Lindsey Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this summary Source