WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration intends to deport nearly 700 Guatemalan children who entered the U.S. without their parents, as stated in a letter sent by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon on Friday. The Central American nation has expressed its readiness to receive these children.
According to Wyden, these deportations would go against the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s “child welfare mandate and this country’s long-standing commitment to these children.” He addressed this to Angie Salazar, the acting head of the department responsible for migrant children who arrive alone in the U.S. within the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Democratic senator expressed that “This action risks separating children from their families, lawyers, and support networks, forcing them back into the conditions they sought refuge from, and making vulnerable children disappear beyond the scope of U.S. law and oversight.” Wyden urged for these deportation plans to be halted.
This is part of the Trump administration’s extensive immigration enforcement objectives, which include stationing additional officers in Chicago for an immigration crackdown, increasing deportations, and revoking protections for individuals who have been allowed to live and work in the U.S.
Guatemala says it’s ready to take in the children
Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Martínez stated on Friday that his government communicated to the U.S. their willingness to receive the hundreds of Guatemalan minors who arrived unaccompanied and are currently in U.S. custody.
Martínez expressed concern over minors potentially aging out of child facilities and being transferred to adult detention centers. While discussions are ongoing for slightly over 600 children, no specific date has been confirmed for their return.
That would be almost double what Guatemala previously agreed to. The head of the country’s immigration service said last month that the government was looking to repatriate 341 unaccompanied minors who were being held in U.S. facilities.
“The idea is to bring them back before they reach 18 years old so that they are not taken to an adult detention center,” Guatemala Immigration Institute Director Danilo Rivera said at the time. He said it would be done at Guatemala’s expense and would be a form of voluntary return.
The plan was announced by President Bernardo Arévalo, who said then that the government had a moral and legal obligation to advocate for the children. His comments came days after U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Guatemala.
Wyden’s letter says the children ‘will be forcibly removed’
The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the latest move, which was first reported by CNN.
Quoting unidentified whistleblowers, Wyden’s letter said children who do not have a parent or legal guardian as a sponsor or who don’t have an asylum case already underway, “will be forcibly removed from the country.”
“Unaccompanied children are some of the most vulnerable children entrusted to the government’s care,” Wyden wrote. “In many cases, these children and their families have had to make the unthinkable choice to face danger and separation in search of safety.”
The idea of repatriating such a large number of children to their home country also raised concerns with activists who work with children navigating the immigration process.
“We are outraged by the Trump administration’s renewed assault on the rights of immigrant children,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, president and CEO of Immigrant Defenders Law Center. “We are not fooled by their attempt to mask these efforts as mere ‘repatriations.’ This is yet another calculated attempt to sever what little due process remains in the immigration system.”
Due to their age and the trauma unaccompanied immigrant children have often experienced getting to the U.S., their treatment is one of the most sensitive issues in immigration. Advocacy groups already have sued to ask courts to halt new Trump administration vetting procedures for unaccompanied children, saying the changes are keeping families separated longer and are inhumane.
Migrant children traveling without their parents or guardians are handed over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement when they are encountered by officials along the U.S.-Mexico border. Once in the U.S., they often live in government-supervised shelters or with foster care families until they can be released to a sponsor — usually a family member — living in the country.
They can request asylum, juvenile immigration status or visas for victims of sexual exploitation.
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Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas. AP writers Sonia Pérez D. in Guatemala City and Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
