George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Thursday on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle “that the injunction blocking unaccompanied migrant children from being deported is “on pretty thin ice,” adding that the U.S. is attempting to reunite them with their families.
On Sunday, Biden-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle Sooknanan temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting unaccompanied Guatemalan children back to their home country, issuing a 14-day temporary restraining order. Fox’s Laura Ingraham asked Turley for his legal opinion on the order as well as his opinion on the nationwide injunction for all unaccompanied minors despite the Supreme Court ruling against such broad injunctions.
“Well, it does seem to run against the grain. The Supreme Court has really put a shot across the bow now of multiple district courts and said, ‘You should not do these national injunctions unless you can establish a national class action.’ And even then, some justices have said we’re going to scrutinize that closely. This seems to be bucking that order,” Turley said. “The problem with this is that ultimately I can’t imagine the injunction can stand with regard to virtually all of these individuals, these children. They are being reunited with their parents.”
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“Many of these children were sent over the border unaccompanied, and they are being sent back, and the parents have been contacted. So it’s on pretty darn thin ice for the district court,” Turley added. “Now, there could be a delay, and there can be a requirement of some due process. But this is not what you would consider an ordinary deportation case. You have minors who ideally belong with their parents.”
Early Sunday, Sooknanan issued her first temporary restraining order, barring Trump officials from sending 10 unaccompanied migrant children between 10 and 17 years old to Guatemala after an attorney requested that she intervene, according to CBS News.
Sooknanan scheduled a hearing for later that day, but she moved the session up and announced a broader restraining order blocking any deportations of unaccompanied migrant children from Guatemala, as well as those in U.S. custody who did not have a deportation order, the outlet reported. Department of Justice lawyer Drew Ensign, in response, argued that the administration was not attempting to formally deport the unaccompanied Guatemalan minors but rather repatriate them to their home country to reunite them with their relatives.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that lower courts’ ability to block the Trump administration’s policies through nationwide injunctions exceeds their authority.
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