DistantNews
Support us
Humanitarian group seeks to halt deportation of 108 migrant children, files legal challenge against Trump plan
🇲🇽 Mexico /Disasters & Emergencies

Humanitarian group seeks to halt deportation of 108 migrant children, files legal challenge against Trump plan

From El Universal · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • A humanitarian group in Arizona has filed a legal petition to prevent the deportation of 108 unaccompanied migrant children.
  • The children are currently in U.S. custody in Arizona and face transfer to Texas and Louisiana for expedited deportation.
  • The group argues this plan violates due process and is the latest in a series of threats against migrant children's rights.

A legal battle is underway in Arizona to protect 108 unaccompanied migrant children from expedited deportation. The Florence Project for Immigrant and Refugee Rights has filed a 'habeas corpus' petition to prevent the federal government from transferring these children from Arizona to Texas and Louisiana.

The children are currently under the custody of the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) in Arizona. The petition, filed in federal court in Tucson, aims to stop the Trump administration from moving the children away from their legal representatives and circumventing due process. Among the children is a five-month-old U.S. citizen infant who is in custody with their parents.

Less than a year after attempting to expel children to Guatemala against their will and violating their rights, the Trump Administration attacks unaccompanied migrant children again through an illegal plan to circumvent due process and accelerate deportations.

— Roxana Avila-CimpeanuDeputy director of the Florence Project, criticizing the administration's plan.

Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, deputy director of the Florence Project, stated that this plan represents a "growing threat" to the rights and safety of unaccompanied migrant children. She criticized the administration's actions, calling it an "illegal plan to circumvent due process and accelerate deportations," echoing a previous attempt to deport children to Guatemala against their will.

The Florence Project emphasizes that federal law prohibits treating children as "pawns" in immigration enforcement. The group is asking the court to ensure the government adheres to this standard. This legal action follows a similar successful challenge in September 2025, where a federal judge prevented the deportation of 57 Guatemalan and Honduran migrant children after a lawsuit by the Florence Project.

With this petition, we are simply asking the court to ensure the government complies with that standard.

— Roxana Avila-CimpeanuExplaining the goal of the habeas corpus petition.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog