A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump Administration from deporting Guatemalan children in HHS custody to their home country.
US District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, said Trump’s claim he is reunifying the migrant children with their parents “crumbled like a house of cards.”
The government of Guatemala has now formally requested that these children be returned home.
The children, who do not have a parent in the US, were in the care of the Health and Human Services Department. The Trump Administration worked with the Guatemalan government to devise a plan to safely return the children to their families at home.
BREAKING: Judge Kelly (Trump appointee) bars the Trump administration from deporting Guatemalan kids in HHS custody, finding the claim they were “reunifying” kids with their parents “crumbled like a house of cards” upon review. https://t.co/PNbPX4ReuN pic.twitter.com/7CJNJZFGs7
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 18, 2025
A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from deporting certain Guatemalan minors to their home country after the government walked back claims that it intended to reunite the youths with their parents.
Judge Timothy Kelly, who issued the order, signaled his skepticism of the removals in a hearing last week, noting declarations from minors who said they feared facing violence or neglect if they were returned to Guatemala.
“It goes without saying that makes that irreparable harm,” Kelly said of their possible removals.
Kelly, a Trump appointee, also raised a report from the Guatemalan attorney general’s office, which plaintiffs submitted to the court. The report was compiled in response to Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement notifying the Guatemalan government that it planned to return more than 600 minors to Guatemala. No parents had requested the return of their children, the report said. Welch said she had no evidence to contradict the report.
Last month a Biden-appointed judge blocked the Trump Administration from deporting 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan children.
The Trump Administration was preparing to deport 600 Guatemalan children who entered the US alone during the Biden years.
The children, who do not have a parent in the US, were in the care of the Health and Human Services Department. The Trump Administration worked with the Guatemalan government to devise a plan to safely return the children to their families at home.
US District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, a Biden appointee, in a 4 am order, blocked the Trump Admin from deporting the children within hours of a lawsuit filed by a ‘civil rights’ group.
