Judge temporarily blocks US effort to remove dozens of immigrant
Guatemalan and Honduran children
[September 12, 2025]
By JACQUES BILLEAUD and MORGAN LEE
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A federal judge in Arizona temporarily blocked the
Trump administration from removing dozens of Guatemalan and Honduran
children living in shelters or foster care after coming to the U.S.
alone, according to a decision Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Rosemary Márquez in Tucson extended until at least
Sept. 26 a temporary restraining issued over the Labor Day weekend.
Márquez raised concern over whether the government had arranged for any
of the children's parents or legal guardians in Guatemala to take
custody of them.
Laura Belous, attorney for the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights
Project, which represents the children, said in court that the minors
expressed no desire to be repatriated to their native countries of
Guatemala and Honduras amid concerns they could face neglect, possible
child trafficking or hardships associated with individual medical
conditions.
Lawyers for the children said their clients fear going home and the
government is not following laws designed to protect migrant children.
Belous' organization filed a lawsuit in Arizona on behalf of 57
Guatemalan children and another 12 from Honduras between the ages 3 and
17.
Trump administration also seeks to deport unaccompanied children from
Washington, DC
The suit, along with a related lawsuit before a federal judge in
Washington responds to the administration’s Labor Day weekend attempt to
remove Guatemalan migrant children who were living in government
shelters and foster care after coming to the U.S. alone.
In a late night operation Aug. 30, the administration notified shelters
that they would be returning the children to Guatemala and needed to
have the kids ready to leave in a matter of hours. Scores of children
got as far as boarding planes in Texas on the morning of Aug. 31 and
were set to depart to Guatemala.
At Thursday’s hearing in Tucson, Denise Ann Faulk, an assistant U.S.
attorney under the Trump administration, emphasized that the child
repatriations were negotiated with Guatemala at high diplomatic levels
and would avoid lengthy prohibitions on returning to the U.S.
Nearly all the children were in the custody of the U.S. Health and Human
Services Department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement and living at
shelters in the Phoenix and Tucson areas. Similar lawsuits filed in
Illinois and Washington, D.C., seek to stop the government from removing
the children.
The Arizona lawsuit demands that the government allow the children their
right to present their cases to an immigration judge, to have access to
legal counsel and to be placed in the least restrictive setting that is
in their best interest.
The Trump administration has argued it is acting in the best interest of
the children by trying to reunite them with their families at the behest
of the Guatemalan government. After Guatemalan officials toured U.S.
detention facilities, the government said that it was “very concerned”
and that it would take children who wanted to return voluntarily.
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The Evo A. DeConcini U.S. Courthouse in Tucson, Arizona, is seen,
Thursday Sept. 11, 2025, where a judge extended a temporary
restraining order blocking the Trump administration's effort to
remove Guatemalan and Honduran children living in shelters or foster
care after coming to the U.S. alone. (AP Photo/Jacques Billeaud)
Details reflect shifting immigration patterns
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
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.
The Arizona lawsuit was amended to include 12 children from Honduras
who have expressed to an Arizona legal aid group that they do not
want to return to Honduras, as well as four additional children from
Guatemala who have come into government custody in Arizona since the
lawsuit was initially filed on Aug. 30.
Judge Márquez said she found it “frightening” that U.S. officials
may not have coordinated with the children's parents. She also
expressed concern that the government was denying the children
access to review by an experienced immigration judge, and noted that
legal representatives for the children were notified of preparations
for child departures with little notice, late at night.
“On a practical matter, it just seems that a lot of these things
that (the Office of Refugee Resettlement) has taken upon themselves
to do — such as screening and making judicial determinations that
should be made by an immigration judge with expertise and time to
meet with a lawyer and meet with a child — is just surpassed by
saying ‘we’re reuniting them’” with parents, Márquez said in court
as she pressed Faulk for more information.
Márquez was appointed as a federal judge in 2014 after being
nominated by then-President Barack Obama. In documents related to
her confirmation, she listed herself as having volunteered at the
Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights project in the early 2000s.
A request for comment from the judge was declined. Chief Deputy
Clerk Mags Everette cited restrictions under a code of conduct for
judges.
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