The Trump administration is shifting to repatriate hundreds of Guatemalan children in government custody who arrived in the United States alone, in accordance to a number of sources aware of the planning who described the scope of the trouble as unprecedented.
It’s the most recent in a sequence of strikes since President Donald Trump returned to workplace targeted on unaccompanied migrant children in the United States — in this case, plucking children out of government custody, the place they’re ready to be launched to a relative or guardian in the US who can take care of them whereas they make their case for defense, and sending them to Guatemala, the place they’re anticipated to be reunited with household.
The administration has recognized greater than 600 children from Guatemala in the custody of the Health and Human Services Department, which is charged with their care till they are often launched, to probably deport as a component of a pilot program in coordination with the Guatemalan government, in accordance to two sources.
The children, ranging in age, are believed to not have a mother or father in the US, although they might have a relative, one of the sources mentioned. It’s unclear what immigration course of the administration plans to use to take away the children, although discussions have included voluntary departure.
Internally, officers have known as the removals repatriations and never deportations, sources informed NCS, implying the children impacted are usually not being involuntarily eliminated. Advocates and former officers, nonetheless, expressed skepticism about children’s understanding of their elimination, notably as a result of many don’t have attorneys.
Generally, for instance, children in custody are usually not affirmatively provided the choice to depart voluntarily, and those that request it will need to have it permitted by an immigration choose.
“Having children’s cases in immigration court when they’re choosing voluntary departure is a protective mechanism,” mentioned Shaina Aber, government director of the Acacia Center for Justice, including that an immigration choose is there to make sure the youngster is aware of what it means, are making the selection of their very own free will, and aren’t being put in hurt’s method.
There are just below 2,000 children in HHS custody, in accordance to federal information. The majority of the unaccompanied migrant children who arrive to the US southern border are from Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador.
NCS reached out to HHS and the Department of Homeland Security for remark. The Guatemalan embassy declined to remark.
Trump and his aides have fixated on migrant children launched in the United States, arguing that they’re in hurt’s method and unaccounted for, in addition to critiquing the Biden administration’s dealing with of these children. Former Biden officers and several other specialists refute these claims.
The Trump administration has carried out welfare checks of migrant children residing in the country, arrange extra hurdles for children in custody to be launched to mother and father or relations in the US, positioned children in expedited immigration proceedings, begun interviewing children in custody, and have had federal brokers ask sure children encountered in immigration enforcement operations if they need to voluntarily depart the country, amongst a sequence of different measures.
The coverage adjustments stem in half from the assumption amongst senior Trump officers that the vetting procedures which have been in place for years aren’t adequate.
“Our main focus right now is not to just make sure the border is the most secure than we ever had, which it is now, but to find the thousands and thousands of children that were trafficked into this country, released to unvetted sponsors,” White House border czar Tom Homan said at a summit in July.
This week, the administration directed federal subject specialists, who function regional liaisons to care suppliers and stakeholders, to stop all releases of Guatemalan children into the custody of sure sponsors, like relations. They have been additionally informed to halt approvals of sponsors for Guatemalan children who’re in government custody and don’t have a mother or father in the United States, in accordance to steering reviewed by NCS.
“Blocking releases based only on the child’s nationality is a clear violation of federal law and regulations that require (the Office of Refugee Resettlement) to release children to a suitable sponsor without unnecessary delay,” mentioned Neha Desai, managing director of Children’s Human Rights & Dignity on the National Center for Youth Law.
While immigrant advocates preserve that youngster security must be a precedence, notably when coping with weak migrant children, they argue that the Trump administration’s insurance policies threat doing extra hurt than good.
Exclusive: Federal legislation enforcement to start interviewing unaccompanied migrant children in government custody
Unaccompanied children residing in the US are often afforded particular protections provided that they’re thought-about a weak inhabitants. They are typically positioned with members of the family already dwelling in the US however are nonetheless deemed unaccompanied as a result of they entered the country alone.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which has been in place for greater than 20 years, offers protections for unaccompanied migrant children who arrive and reside in the US, together with screening them to see if they’re victims of human trafficking or have a reputable concern of persecution in their home country.
Children from Mexico and Canada have been requested to voluntarily depart as half of the elimination course of alongside the US southern border, however that hasn’t been true for teenagers of different nationalities and it’s unclear how current directives align with the protections outlined in legislation.
“In our experience, children leave because they’re not safe, so it could be the parent in country of origin is the person who was harming them, or you have a parent unable to protect them because the gangs are coming after them. Having a parent or family member in country of origin doesn’t always equal having a safe place to go back,” mentioned Jennifer Podkul, chief of world advocacy for Kids in Need of Defense, a gaggle that works with unaccompanied migrant minors.
NCS previously reported that federal brokers had been directed to ask migrant teenagers encountered in the US whether or not they need to depart the country, marking a departure from long-standing protocol which required that authorities flip most unaccompanied children to HHS.
The administration has been leaning on so-called self-deportations as half of Trump’s sweeping mass deportation marketing campaign. Some households, together with these from mixed-status households, have opted to leave the country voluntarily, fearful of the administration’s immigration crackdown. Children in custody have additionally beforehand requested to depart the country.
Experts and youngster advocates say that some children in custody have grown determined — and officers have privately acknowledged that some children have been languishing in custody. The common size of take care of children in custody has jumped from 67 days in December 2024 to 187 days in July 2025 as pointers to launch children have develop into extra stringent.