DOJ lawyer says there are 'no immediate plans' to deport additional unaccompanied minors
A government attorney said at a hearing Wednesday that the administration has "no immediate plans" to deport additional unaccompanied minors, following the near deportation of 76 Guatemalan minors over Labor Day weekend.
A judge over the weekend temporarily blocked the deportation of the 76 unaccompanied minors without due process, just as they were sitting on the planes preparing to depart.
Justice Department officials have said the 76 minors were being removed in accordance with the law and at the request of the Guatemalan government and the minors' legal guardians, but attorneys for the minors say some of children did not have parents who had requested their return, and that some minors expressed a fear of returning to Guatemala.
At a hearing Wednesday, attorneys for the minors asked a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction blocking such deportations.
During the hearing, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly pressed Justice Department attorney Sarah Welch on the government's plans for additional deportations of unaccompanied minors.
"There are no immediate plans," Welch responded.
Asked about a Guatemalan government report that contradicted the administration's claim that the parents of the minors had requested their children be returned, Welch said that "parental request" is not a requirement for removal.
"The government of Guatemala made this request," Welch said. "The U.S. has been working with the government of Guatemala."
Welch conceded that "everyone agrees it was unfortunate children were frightened" during the removal attempt, but said the procedure followed by the government "was sufficient for due process." She said that because the minors are in government custody, any notice of removal goes to the caregiver, not to the child.
Efren Olivares, an attorney representing the minors, argued that a request for voluntary departure must be granted by an immigration judge and said that while the government has stated it has no immediate plans to remove children, it did not deny that children may be removed "eventually."
Judge Kelly did not rule on the preliminary injunction during Wednesday's hearing.
Olivares argued during the hearing that a preliminary injunction is needed for the entire class -- including minors who are from other countries -- because they are at "imminent risk."
The attorney said evidence submitted to the court shows that recent actions by government officials "tracks" with the removal attempt over the weekend. In court filings prior to the hearing, the minors' attorneys argued that immigration officials are interviewing unaccompanied minors from other countries with an eye toward removing them in the same manner.
"We provided enough evidence that other children are being targeted," another attorney representing the minors said at the hearing.
The attorneys' filings included declarations from immigrant advocates and minors from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
"I recently received a visit from HSI [Homeland Security Investigations], but they never asked me if I wanted to go back to Honduras," said a 17-year-old from Honduras, whose name was redacted in the declaration.
The teenager, who said they are afraid to return to their home country, said that at an immigration hearing last month, a judge said he had a list of minors who had agreed to voluntary removal, and that the teen's name was on it.
"I do not know why I was on the list," the 17-year-old said.
According to a declaration filed by Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, deputy director of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, a number of Honduran children have been questioned by Department of Homeland Security officials.
"We have no details as to how these children were chosen, or who is in charge of the plan," she said. "We have no information as to whom we need to reach out to share that children have expressed fear or have possible relief."
In another declaration, a 16-year-old from El Salvador, who said they fled their home country because they fear they will be "harmed or killed by the police," stated they have been asked to participate in interviews with government officials.
According to several declarations, many of the minors who immigration attorneys and advocates believe are being targeted for removal have pending immigration proceedings. The attorneys argued that the Trump administration is violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which outlines specific procedures for unaccompanied minors, including ensuring they are placed in immigration proceedings.
"Defendants' argument that they can expel hundreds of children in the middle of the night with two hours' warning relies on the fallacy that they were acting pursuant to authority to 'reunify' them with their parents," attorneys representing the minors said in the filings. "That argument is illogical and illegal."
In the filings, the attorneys also argued that the Trump administration does not have authority to transfer unaccompanied minors from the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement to DHS.
They said the court should reject the Trump administration's "invocation of nonexistent statutory authority," arguing that the administration is putting hundreds of children "at risk of imminent, irreparable harm if they are expelled with no remedy."
