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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Exclusive: Trump administration plans to send hundreds of Guatemalan
children in government custody back to home country
By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN
Updated:
1:27 PM EDT, Fri August 29, 2025
Source: CNN
The Trump administration is moving to repatriate hundreds of Guatemalan
children in government custody who arrived in the United States alone,
according to multiple sources familiar with the planning who described
the scope of the effort as unprecedented.
It’s the latest in a series of moves since President Donald Trump
returned to office focused on in the United States — in this case,
plucking kids out of government custody, where they’re waiting to be
released to a relative or guardian in the US who can care for them
while they make their case for protection, and sending them to
Guatemala, where they’re expected to be reunited with family.
The administration has identified more than 600 children from Guatemala
in the custody of the Health and Human Services Department, which is
charged with their care until they can be released, to potentially
deport as a part of a pilot program in coordination with the Guatemalan
government, according to two sources.
The children, ranging in age, are believed to not have a parent in the
US, though they may have a relative, one of the sources said. It’s
unclear what immigration process the administration plans to use to
remove the children, though discussions have included voluntary
departure.
Internally, officials have called the removals repatriations and not
deportations, sources told CNN, implying the children impacted are not
being involuntarily removed. Advocates and former officials, however,
expressed skepticism about children’s understanding of their removal,
particularly because many don’t have attorneys.
Generally, for example, kids in custody are not affirmatively offered
the option to leave voluntarily, and those who request it must have it
approved by an immigration judge.
“Having children’s cases in immigration court when they’re
choosing voluntary departure is a protective mechanism,” said Shaina
Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice, adding that
an immigration judge is there to ensure the child knows what it means,
are making the choice of their own free will, and aren’t being put in
harm’s way.
There are just under 2,000 children in HHS custody, according to
federal data. who arrive to the US southern border are from Guatemala,
Honduras or El Salvador.
CNN reached out to HHS and the Department of Homeland Security for
comment. The Guatemalan embassy declined to comment.
On Friday, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden sent a letter to the Trump
administration requesting additional information about upcoming plans
to repatriate Guatemalan children and demanding their “immediate
termination,” citing whistleblower accounts, according to the letter
shared with CNN.
“This would constitute the latest escalation in the Trump
administration’s push to disappear the vulnerable unaccompanied
children entrusted to (the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s) care,
violating ORR’s child welfare mandate and this country’s
long-established obligation to these children,” the letter states,
adding: “They are most often fleeing abuse and violence in their home
countries, traversing perilous conditions to arrive alone at this
nation’s borders. In many cases, these children and their families
have had to make the unthinkable choice to face danger and separation
in search of safety.”
Trump and his aides have fixated on migrant children released in the
United States, arguing that they are in harm’s way and unaccounted
for, as well as critiquing the Biden administration’s handling of
those children. Former Biden officials and several experts refute those
claims.
The Trump administration has conducted welfare checks of migrant
children residing in the country, set up additional hurdles for
children in custody to be released to parents or relatives in the US,
placed children in expedited immigration proceedings, begun
interviewing children in custody, and have had federal agents ask
certain kids encountered in immigration enforcement operations if they
want to voluntarily leave the country, among a series of other
measures.
The policy changes stem in part from the belief among senior Trump
officials that the vetting procedures that have been in place for years
aren’t sufficient.
“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 .
This week, the administration directed federal field specialists, who
serve as regional liaisons to care providers and stakeholders, to cease
all releases of Guatemalan children into the custody of certain
sponsors, like relatives. They were also told to halt approvals of
sponsors for Guatemalan children who are in government custody and
don’t have a parent in the United States, according to guidance
reviewed by CNN.
“Blocking releases based only on the child’s nationality is a clear
violation of federal law and regulations that require ORR to release
children to a suitable sponsor without unnecessary delay,” said Neha
Desai, managing director of Children’s Human Rights & Dignity at the
National Center for Youth Law.
While immigrant advocates maintain that child safety should be a
priority, particularly when dealing with vulnerable migrant children,
they argue that the Trump administration’s policies risk doing more
harm than good.
Unaccompanied children residing in the US are usually afforded special
protections given that they are considered a vulnerable population.
They are generally placed with family members already living in the US
but are still deemed unaccompanied because they entered the country
alone.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which has been
in place for more than two decades, provides protections for
unaccompanied migrant children who arrive and reside in the US,
including screening them to see if they are victims of human
trafficking or have a credible fear of persecution in their home
country.
Children from Mexico and Canada have been asked to voluntarily depart
as part of the removal process along the US southern border, but that
hasn’t been true for kids of other nationalities and it’s unclear
how recent directives align with the protections outlined in law.
“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,” said
Jennifer Podkul, chief of global advocacy for Kids in Need of Defense,
a group that works with unaccompanied migrant minors.
that federal agents had been directed to ask migrant teens encountered
in the US whether they want to leave the country, marking a departure
from long-standing protocol which required that authorities turn most
unaccompanied children to HHS.
The administration has been leaning on so-called self-deportations as
part of Trump’s sweeping mass deportation campaign. Some families,
including those from mixed-status households, have voluntarily, fearful
of the administration’s immigration crackdown. Children in custody
have also previously asked to leave the country.
Experts and child advocates say that some children in custody have
grown desperate — and officials have privately acknowledged that some
kids have been languishing in custody. The average length of care for
children in custody has jumped from in July 2025 as guidelines to
release kids have become more stringent.
This article has been updated with additional information.
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