More details emerge about the 76 Guatemalan children whose deportations were stopped by a federal judge

Not sure why this isn’t bigger news. The Office of Refugee Resettlement broke multiple laws and violated the constitutional rights of dozens of children in an attempt to deport them (which seems to be a habit of the Trump admin at large):

> # What happened

> Attorneys for Guatemalan migrant children in the U.S. have asked a federal court to extend a temporary ban blocking their deportation, saying that sending them to Guatemala puts them at risk of “grave and irreparable harm.” They say that last weekend’s attempt to hastily remove them in the middle of the night was a violation of their due process rights in the U.S. as well as federal law.

> The 76 Guatemalan minors who came to the US unaccompanied and without legal documents were roused from their beds around 1:00 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 31, and brought by immigration authorities onto three planes. One took off, according to the children’s lawyers, but turned around after a federal district court judge temporarily blocked their deportation. Attorneys with the National Immigration Law Center who sought that temporary restraining order over the holiday weekend, made a new request Wednesday for a longer-term injunction.

> # Declarations

> New court papers offer details about the minors, their circumstances of abuse and neglect in their native Guatemala, and their “harrowing experience during the weekend attempt to deport them from the U.S.

> According to court filings a 17-year-old Guatemalan boy says he was awakened at 2 am, was very scared, lost his breath and started to pray. Another says simply she was “totally traumatized.” One young girl was so scared that she vomited, according to an unidentified witness cited in the papers.

> Many of the minors explain why they are “terrified” by the prospect of returning to Guatemala after having been threatened by gang members, for example, or having been a victim of human trafficking.

> Several share details of “abuse and neglect” from family members and one describes how she “suffered from physical and emotional abuse” from both her parents.

> “They hit me with a belt, with their hands and with sticks, and sometimes I would bleed,” she stated. “I fear that if I were to return to Guatemala my life would end.”

> Another, who identifies as LGBTQ expressed fear of being raped and forced into a marriage, and stated “If I had to return to Guatemala, I would kill myself.”

> # Illegality of the ORR’s actions

> Immigration defense lawyers say the move was a blatant violation of the minors’ due process rights, as well as immigration and federal laws which entitle the minors to a full opportunity to challenge their removals. They accuse the Trump administration of “flouting their legal obligations” to unaccompanied children that were passed by Congress, due to minors’ “unique and vulnerable situation.”

> “This is not the government doing international family reunification. It’s not repatriation,” said Gladis Molina, executive director of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights — one of several advocates who briefed congressional staffers about the case on Tuesday.

> “This is the government trying to put on a veil of legal authority to something that is completely violating international and domestic law,” said Molina “It’s the turning back of people that are seeking protection under international and domestic asylum law.”

!ping LAW