US to repatriate hundreds of unaccompanied Guatemalan minors

The Biden administration plans to return hundreds of unaccompanied Guatemalan children now in federal custody to Guatemala, U.S. and Guatemalan officials said Friday, setting up a contentious policy shift that advocates say could strip vulnerable minors of protections and due process. The number of children involved remains in flux, with Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon citing nearly 700 in a letter to federal officials and Guatemala's foreign minister saying discussions focus on a little over 600 children being held by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Wyden wrote to Angie Salazar, acting director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, that the planned removals would violate the agency's child welfare mandate and the United States' longstanding obligations to unaccompanied minors. Quoting unidentified whistleblowers, the senator said children who lack a parent or legal guardian sponsor or who do not already have an asylum case underway would be forcibly removed. "Unaccompanied children are some of the most vulnerable children entrusted to the government's care," Wyden wrote, urging that the deportation plans be terminated.

Guatemala's government said it has told U.S....