Donald Trump admin plans to deport 700 Guatemalan children: Senator

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) said in a letter on Friday, 20 August, that the Donald Trump administration is preparing to deport nearly 700 unaccompanied Guatemalan children from the US.

Wyden warned that the move would violate the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR) child welfare mandate and undermine the US’s long-standing responsibility toward vulnerable children. He said the plan targets children without a parent or legal guardian sponsor or those without pending asylum cases, citing whistleblower accounts.

“Unaccompanied children are among the most vulnerable in government care,” Wyden wrote, urging officials to halt the plan. He stressed that many families made the “unthinkable choice” to send children to the US in search of safety, and deporting them would “thrust them back into the very conditions they are seeking refuge from.”

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The removals would mark another step in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement strategy, which has included surging federal officers to cities, ramping up deportations, and rolling back protections for immigrants. The White House and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have not commented. The Guatemalan government has also declined to respond.

Immigrant advocacy groups criticized the plan, calling it an attack on due process. “We are outraged by the Trump administration’s renewed assault on the rights of immigrant children,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, president of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

In July, Guatemala’s immigration chief Danilo Rivera confirmed plans to repatriate 341 unaccompanied minors from U.S. facilities at the country’s expense, saying they should be returned before turning 18 to avoid transfer to adult detention centers. President Bernardo Arévalo defended the move as a “moral and legal obligation.”

Currently, unaccompanied migrant children encountered at the US-Mexico border are placed under ORR custody and housed in shelters or foster care until they can be released to sponsors, often relatives already in the US. They may apply for asylum, special juvenile status, or visas for victims of exploitation.

Critics say mass deportations would tear children away from legal support, foster families, and safety networks, exposing them once again to violence, poverty, and instability in Guatemala.

With AP/PTI inputs