District Judge Timothy Kelly in Washington issued an order Thursday maintaining the deportation freeze on Guatemalan minors who arrived in the United States accompanied by adults. Some had been taken to a Texas airport in late August, but their repatriation was halted before takeoff.
According to the court ruling, the cases will remain open as long as there are pending asylum applications. Since August, churches and community centers in South Texas have welcomed hundreds of minors, most of them of Guatemalan origin, currently in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The operation included nighttime transfers of children to airports, with scheduled repatriation flights. The court order halted one of these flights at the last minute. Organizations such as the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights warned that children have the right to due process, legal representation, and individual decisions regarding their protection requests.
Data from the Office of Resettlement indicates that in October 2024, there were 6,212 unaccompanied minors in federal custody in the United States, a figure that had dropped to 2,173 by March 2025. Lawyers and child rights advocates noted that these procedures are reminiscent of practices seen in 2018 during the family separation policy.
Conservative sectors along the border have defended the current administration's measures, criticizing previous administrations for their lack of permanent solutions. Meanwhile, the future of these minors remains uncertain, with the possibility of remaining in the United States or being returned to Guatemala.