Chaotic showdown over Guatemalan children exposes fault lines in Trump’s
deportation push
[September 05, 2025]
By REBECCA SANTANA, VALERIE GONZALEZ and SONIA PÉREZ D.
HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) — Laura Peña knew she had two hours to stop the
children she represents from being deported home to Guatemala. She and
other lawyers and advocates around the country were just starting to get
word that Saturday night of Labor Day weekend that migrant children had
just been woken up and were heading to the airport.
Hours of confusion ensued, including a frantic phone call to a judge at
2:36 a.m. It was remarkably similar to a chaotic March weekend when the
Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelans to a
maximum-security prison in El Salvador despite frantic attempts by
attorneys and an intervention by a judge who came to court on a Saturday
night in civilian dress.
This time, the attorneys managed to block the flights, at least for two
weeks, but the episode has raised questions about how truthful the
administration was in its initial accounts.
A Guatemalan government report obtained by The Associated Press from a
U.S.-based human rights group says 50 of 115 families contacted by
investigators said they wanted their children to stay in the U.S.,
undermining a key Trump administration claim that they wanted their
children back in Guatemala. Another 59 families wouldn't allow
government teams in their homes, believing that refusing to cooperate
would make it more likely their children could remain in the U.S.,
according to the report.
Many questions remain, including a full rundown of how old the children
were and how many the administration planned to remove that night.
While some answers may emerge in court, a reconstruction of the
rapid-fire events, based on interviews and government documents,
illuminates the latest clash between the administration’s desire for
mass deportations and longstanding legal protections for migrants.
Children told to pack a bag
Weeks of quiet planning led to at least 76 children boarding planes at
Texas airports in Harlingen and El Paso.
Peña, who represents migrant children at the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum
Representation Project, kissed her 3-month-old goodbye and raced to a
shelter. While driving, she got calls about children in other shelters
being loaded onto buses.
Children were in the lobby with packed bags when she arrived, including
one boy who was “almost catatonic,” terrified he would be murdered like
a relative back home if he was returned, Peña said.
Three teens living with foster families in the Dallas area got a
four-hour notice, said Jennifer Anzardo Valdes, director of children’s
legal services at the International Rescue Committee, which represents
them. “They all spoke about how they were woken up in the middle of the
night and told to pack a bag,” she said.
A judge is jolted awake in the middle of the night
U.S. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of Washington was jolted awake
at 2:36 a.m. with an emergency request to stop the flights. The judge
said in court Sunday that she left a voicemail for a Justice Department
lawyer at 3:33 a.m. She ordered a halt to the deportations at 4:22 a.m.
“I have the government attempting to remove unaccompanied minors from
the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend, which
is surprising,” said Sooknanan, who was appointed during the final weeks
of Joe Biden's presidency. “Absent action by the courts all of those
children would have been returned to Guatemala, potentially to very
dangerous situations.”
Drew Ensign, a Justice Department attorney, said it was possible that
one plane had taken off but returned before the children were deported.
The Trump administration argued that it acted at Guatemala's behest.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller accused the judge of
“effectively kidnapping these migrant children and refusing to let them
return home to their parents in their home country.”
The Guatemalan government report about the children's families raises
serious questions about the administration's version of events.
One family said if their daughter was returned to Guatemala they would
do everything to get her out because her life was threatened, according
to the report.
Lucrecia Prera, Guatemala’s child advocate who prepared the report that
raises questions about the Trump administration’s claims, told the AP
that many families suspected her office was pushing for their children
to be returned.
“We want to clarify that we are respectful of and unconnected to the
process happening in the United States,” she said. “They are Guatemalan
children and our obligation is to protect them.”
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People wait for loved ones from Guatemala deported from the United
States outside La Aurora International Airport, in Guatemala City,
Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
The children were led off the planes after hours on the tarmac and
returned to their shelters.
A 2008 law requires children appear before an immigration judge
Children began crossing the border alone in large numbers in 2014,
peaking at 152,060 in the 2022 fiscal year. July's arrest tally
translates to an annual clip of 5,712 arrests, reflecting how
illegal crossings have dropped to their lowest levels in six
decades.
Guatemalans accounted for 32% of residents at government-run holding
facilities last year, followed by Hondurans, Mexicans and El
Salvadorans. A 2008 law requires children to appear before an
immigration judge with an opportunity to pursue asylum, unless they
are from Canada and Mexico. The vast majority are released from
shelters to parents, legal guardians or immediate family while their
cases wind through court.
It is unclear how many children who boarded at Texas airports in
Harlingen and El Paso over Labor Day weekend — as well as any who
were on the way — were allowed their day in court as required by the
2008 law. Lawyers for many of the Guatemalan children in the shelter
system have said they still have active cases they want to pursue so
they can stay in the U.S.
The Labor Day weekend drama can be traced to July, when Guatemala’s
immigration chief said the government planned to bring back 341
children from shelters overseen by the U.S. Health and Human
Services Department. They were nearing 18 and Guatemala didn't want
them transferred to immigration detention centers for adults.
But attorneys representing Guatemalan clients said the
administration targeted kids young enough to be in elementary school
on Sunday and either woke them up from shelters or placed them on a
bus heading to the airport, countering the claim that only those
close to aging out were targeted.
Valdes, of the International Rescue Committee, said some girls, all
teenagers, were on a bus for hours, never actually making it to an
airport and eventually being returned to a south Texas shelter.
Lawyers sensed something was afoot heading into the holiday
weekend
“We started hearing from legal service providers about strange calls
they’d received from some Guatemalan children’s parents or relatives
in Guatemala who were told by Guatemalan officials that their
children were going to be deported from the U.S.,” said Shaina Aber,
executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice.
The children were still in immigration court proceedings, said Aber,
whose group runs a network of legal services providers. Guatemalan
consulates told lawyers for their children that they made the calls
at the request of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, she
said.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said Friday that as many as
700 Guatemalan children could be sent home. Lawyers who checked
electronic court dockets found that future court dates had
disappeared.
At the Guatemalan airport Sunday, families prepared for their
children's return. Leslie Lima, from San Marcos in western
Guatemala, came to see her 17-year-old son Gabriel four months after
he left home and was detained after crossing the border near El
Paso. Since the imminent return of the minors was publicized last
week, Lima had been worried about Gabriel.
“We will receive him here, but I hope that he can stay (in the U.S.)
and accomplish his dreams,” she said.
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo has said his administration
told the U.S. that they’re willing to receive “all unaccompanied
minors, who wanted to return to Guatemala voluntarily” and would
welcome anyone who is ordered to leave the U.S.
The judge's order blocking deportation of any Guatemalan children
who don't have final orders of removal expires in 14 days.
Children’s advocates and lawyers believe the chaos isn’t over.
___
Santana reported from Washington and Perez reported from Guatemala
City. Elliot Spagat contributed from San Diego.
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