WASHINGTON – The National Immigration Law Center today filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from unlawfully expelling hundreds of unaccompanied Guatemalan children from the United States. NILC is seeking class certification and an emergency temporary restraining order to prevent the minors’ imminent unlawful removal after the administration reportedly reached an agreement with the Guatemalan government to return the children, who are currently in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
“It is a dark and dangerous moment for this country when our government chooses to target orphaned 10-year-olds and denies them their most basic legal right to present their case before an immigration judge.” said Efrén C. Olivares, vice president of litigation and legal strategy at the National Immigration Law Center. “The Constitution and federal laws provide robust protections to unaccompanied minors specifically because of the unique risks they face. We are determined to use every legal tool at our disposal to force the administration to respect the law and not send any child to danger.”
Under federal law, migrant children without a parent or legal guardian in the U.S. are under the custody of ORR shelters and may be released to a vetted sponsor. Law requires the government to provide them access to legal counsel and not place them in expedited removal except in limited circumstances, which do not apply to Guatemalan children. Because unaccompanied minors are uniquely vulnerable to coercion, an immigration judge must approve their voluntary return to their home countries.
The lawsuit argues that the administration’s unlawful plan to expel the children violates these longstanding protections under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorizations Act (TVPRA), federal legislation that passed in 2008 with overwhelming bipartisan support. The plan also violates the children’s Constitutional right to due process and the Constitution’s protections against discrimination based on national origin.
Most Guatemalan children in U.S. custody are indigenous, and many speak languages other than English or Spanish for which interpretation services are not always provided. That heightens their vulnerability to being misled by officials looking to deport them.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 10 individual plaintiff minors, identified only by their initials and supported by the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights as their “next friend.” The lead plaintiff in the case, L.G.M.L, is an indigenous girl whose mother passed away and who suffered abuse and neglect at the hands of other family members in Guatemala.
The defendants in lawsuit are U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), ORR Acting Director Angie Salazar, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and the U.S. State Department and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Read today’s filing here.