(NEW YORK) — A federal judge on Sunday blocked the Trump administration from deporting 76 unaccompanied Guatemalan children from the United States to Guatemala.

A judge had temporarily blocked the administration from removing the minors and set an emergency hearing for 3 p.m. Sunday, but U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan moved the hearing to 12:30 p.m. after the court was notified the Guatemalan children were “in the process of being removed from the U.S.”

“The Court ORDERS that the Defendants cease any ongoing efforts to transfer, repatriate, remove, or otherwise facilitate the transport of any Plaintiff or member of the putative class from the United States,” Sookananan wrote. “The putative class includes all Guatemalan unaccompanied minors in Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement custody as of 1:02 AM on August 31, 2025, the time of the filing of the Complaint, who are not subject to an executable final order of removal,” the order said.

All of the children had been deplaned and were in the process of returning to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement Sunday evening, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign said.

The government will notify the court when the transfer of all of the children is confirmed, he said.

Attorney Efrén Olivares had asked the judge to keep the hearing going until all of the children were deplaned, saying there have been several instances where “allegations of confusion and misunderstanding have resulted in irreparable harm.”

The hearing on Sunday is reminiscent of an incident in March when several Venezuelan migrants were deported to the CECOT prison in El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, despite a judge issuing a temporary restraining order barring the removals.

This time, however, Ensign said that the flight he believed might have departed had returned and that he expects the children to deplane because of the judge’s order.

Sooknanan expressed skepticism during the hearing over the legality of the administration’s attempt to repatriate the children. She said she received notice of the complaint at 2 a.m. Sunday and that she personally tried to reach the U.S. attorney’s office, leaving a voice message at 3:43 a.m. saying that she wanted to hear from the government before she issued her temporary restraining order

“We are here on a holiday weekend where 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, but here we are,” she said.

Ensign argued that the Trump administration was removing the children in accordance with the law and at the request of the Guatemalan government and the legal guardians of the children.

“The government of Guatemala has requested the return of these children and all of these children have their parents or guardians in Guatemala who are requesting their return, and United States government is trying to facilitate the return of these children to their parents or guardians from whom they have been separated,” Ensign said.

Olivares strongly disagreed with that argument.

“Some of the children do not have either parent, some of the children have fear of returning to Guatemala so have not requested to return, do not want to return,” he said.

The National Immigration Law Center believes more than 600 Guatemalan children could be at risk of being returned to their home country.

Sooknanan appeared to question the validity of the government’s argument.

“I have conflicting narratives from both sides here on whether what is happening here is an attempt to reunite these children with their parents or just return these children to Guatemala where they face harm,” she said.

Sooknanan read declarations from some of the children submitted in court filings, including one from one child who said their parents had received a “strange phone call” notifying them that the U.S. government was trying to deport them to Guatemala along with other minors.

“Every one of these 10 declarants who are named plaintiffs speak about being afraid of going back to Guatemala,” she said, adding that some of the children had faced abuse and neglect from some of their family members.

In earlier court filings, attorneys accuse the Trump administration of attempting to repatriate more than 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan minors in coordination with the Guatemalan government in violation of laws that prevent such moves without giving them the opportunity to challenge the removals.

Unaccompanied minors are migrants under the age of 18 who have come to the country without a legal guardian and do not have legal status. The children in question in the lawsuit are all reportedly in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

In a statement, the National Immigration Law Center, which filed the lawsuit, said the Trump administration is denying the Guatemalan children from being able to present their case before an immigration judge.

“It is a dark and dangerous moment for this country when our government chooses to target orphaned 10-year-olds and denies them their most basic legal right to present their case before an immigration judge,” said Olivares, vice president of litigation at the NILC. “The Constitution and federal laws provide robust protections to unaccompanied minors specifically because of the unique risks they face. We are determined to use every legal tool at our disposal to force the administration to respect the law and not send any child to danger.”

In another court filing, NILC said that after it attempted to inform the government that it had filed a motion for a temporary restraining order, it learned shelters in South Texas had been “notified to prepare Guatemalan children in their custody for discharge.”

“Upon information and belief, ICE agents and their contractors have started attempting to pick up Guatemalan unaccompanied children from shelters in South Texas to transport them to the airport for potential removal from the United States as soon as the early morning of Sunday, August 31, 2025,” NILC said in the filing.

The lawsuit was filed on Sunday after legal service providers received notices from the Office of Refugee Resettlement that children in their program have been identified for reunification. In the notice, the agency said that court proceedings for children identified by the agency “may be dismissed.”

“ORR Care Providers must take proactive measures to ensure UAC are prepared for discharge within 2 hours of receiving this notification,” the notice said.

In one of the notices submitted in court filings, ORR has informed certain attorneys for unaccompanied minors that the “Government of Guatemala has requested the return of certain unaccompanied alien children in general custody” to be reunited “with suitable family members.”

In the statement, NILC said that because most Guatemalan children in U.S. custody are indigenous and many speak languages other than English or Spanish, they are more vulnerable to “being misled by officials looking to deport them.”

One of the children represented in the case is a 10-year-old indigenous girl who speaks a rare language.

“Her mother is deceased and she suffered abuse and neglect from other caregivers,” the complaint says.

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