District Judge Rosemary Márquez delivered a major legal setback to U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday by blocking his administration’s plan to deport 70 unaccompanied minors from Honduras and Guatemala. She issued a preliminary injunction halting “the repatriation or removal of any Plaintiff Child without a valid voluntary departure order or removal order issued by an immigration judge.”
Judge Rosemary Márquez dismissed the administration’s justification that the deportations were intended as family reunification efforts. “The foundation of Defendants’ argument for their authority to transport Plaintiffs out of the United States is that Defendants are reuniting Plaintiff Children with parents abroad, but counsel could not identify a single instance of coordination between a parent and any government—American or Guatemalan,” she wrote.
Judge Rosemary Márquez further described it as “dangerously unclear” whether meaningful steps were taken to ensure the minors would be safely reunited with their families, raising fears they could be left abandoned in unstable environments.
District Judge Rosemary Márquez Cites 50 Families Accepting, 59 Families Refusing
District Judge Rosemary Márquez highlighted troubling evidence about parental involvement. She noted that 50 families said they would accept their children, but none of them had formally requested their return. Instead, those families expressed a preference to evaluate whether the children could remain in the United States.
District Judge Rosemary Márquez also pointed to another 59 families who reacted negatively to being contacted and refused to undergo suitability assessments. These findings, she concluded, undermined the government’s claim that deportation was being carried out in the children’s best interests.
Judge Rosemary Márquez’s ruling aligned with immigrant rights advocates, who argue that unaccompanied minors should not be returned without secure and supportive family placements.
District Judge Rosemary Márquez Reinforces Role of Courts as Final Safeguard
District Judge Rosemary Márquez’s ruling reinforced the judiciary’s central role in restraining executive power. By demanding that deportations follow established legal procedures, she set a barrier against the administration’s attempt to circumvent due process.
Judge Rosemary Márquez’s decision was welcomed by immigration lawyers, who argued that without judicial intervention, the children faced significant risks. “This ruling shows that the courts remain the last line of defense against policies that disregard both the law and basic human decency,” one attorney said.
Judge Rosemary Márquez now compels the administration to reevaluate its strategy, a development that comes amid broader debates over immigration enforcement during Trump’s second term in office.
