A U.S. federal judge issued an order on Sunday to prevent the Trump administration from deporting ten unaccompanied migrant children to Guatemala, following claims by attorneys that these deportations violate U.S. laws.
This ruling came after the National Immigration Law Center, an advocacy group for migrants, filed a complaint early in the morning on behalf of the children, aged between 10 and 17 years.
Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, serving in Washington, D.C., instructed the administration to halt the deportations for a period of 14 days and called for an urgent hearing later in the day, noting that the children appeared to be in the process of being deported.
Three U.S. officials, including one currently in office and two former officials, informed Reuters that the Trump administration had reached an agreement with Guatemala that would allow for the deportation of unaccompanied children to the Central American country, with operations expected to begin early this week.
CNN was the first to report on these plans on Friday.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has launched an extensive campaign focused on immigration. Migrant children arriving at the U.S. borders without a parent or guardian are classified as unaccompanied minors and are placed in shelters operated by the federal government until they can be housed with a family or placed in foster care, in accordance with federal law.