Date: Sep 04, 2025
Dear LAWGista,
Over the weekend, while most of us were out celebrating the hard-won victories of the American labor movement, the Trump Administration seized the chance to ambush dozens of unaccompanied minors.
On Saturday, in the dead of night, U.S. agents stormed immigration shelters across the country. More than 70 Guatemalan children were snatched from their beds, loaded onto buses, and transferred to airports in South Texas, where planes waited to fly them out of the country.
Fortunately, U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan issued an emergency court order (at 2:30 a.m.) and halted the children’s illegal deportation in the nick of time. Judge Sooknanan later expanded the order to unambiguously block the Trump Administration from forcibly removing any of the nearly Guatemalan 700 unaccompanied minors in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Administration officials have since claimed that they were trying to reunify the minors with their families. But a recent Guatemalan government report contradicts U.S. officials’ assertions. The truth is, this move was yet another unlawful attempt by the Trump Administration to undermine the right to due process.
Beyond the flagrant disregard for constitutional protections, the Trump Administration’s actions over the holiday weekend were a direct affront to human dignity. The affected minors described their experience that night as harrowing and traumatizing. Not one of them wanted to return to Guatemala. They were terrified of the prospect. After all, most of these kids fled to the U.S. to seek refuge—from gang violence, from human trafficking, from physical and sexual abuse, and from neglect and extreme poverty at home.
Despite what the government would have you believe, unaccompanied minors are protected by federal laws that prioritize their safety, well-being, and best interests. They have the right to humane care, safe housing, necessary medical care, and education while their cases for political asylum or humanitarian parole are being decided.
If this administration’s vile plan had been successful, these children would have been thrust back into danger and left defenseless against the very horrors they tried to escape.
Even after having their plan thwarted, the administration shows no signs of backing down. In fact, we’ve just received word that the Trump Administration is planning the removal of Honduran unaccompanied minors this weekend.
At LAWG, we refuse to stand by while children are terrorized and put in harm’s way. We will continue fighting for policies that address the root causes of migration and defend the rights of all migrants and refugees. Join us in this fight.
Adelante,
Vicki Gass
LAWG Executive Director
