NPR | Monday, September 1, 2025 
Hundreds of unaccompanied Guatemalan children can stay in the U.S. for now, judge says

A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from expelling hundreds of Guatemalan children who crossed the U.S. border alone. Although the government had not obtained legal permission to remove the children, some of their lawyers said, Guatemalan children were already loaded on planes on a tarmac while the judge conducted a hearing about the situation on Sunday, a U.S. attorney confirmed. The temporary halt, issued Sunday afternoon, allows lawyers 14 more days to discuss the case and prevents any children from being removed during the next two weeks. The children the U.S. intended to remove were under the care of the Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. Since 2002, the Department of Health and Human Services has been required by federal law to shelter and care for children who enter the U.S. without parents or guardians. After HHS assumes care of unaccompanied children, following their apprehension by other agencies at the border, the minors are typically not allowed to be deported without receiving the benefit of full immigration proceedings. Even in some circumstances where it is possible for unaccompanied children to be reunited with guardians in their home countries, they must still first undergo a legal process that allows the children to defend themselves and the U.S. government to confirm that.…Read more