A Democratic US senator has warned that the Trump administration is planning to remove over 500 unaccompanied migrant children from the country, bypassing legal protections. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote in a letter to US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that he had ‘credible information’ about the plan, which would be the administration’s second attempt to do so after a federal court intervened last year.

Background

The Trump administration has made it increasingly difficult for unaccompanied migrant children to be released to sponsors, citing the need for thorough vetting. However, advocates argue that this has resulted in children lingering in government shelters for months. The children at risk of being removed come from various countries, including Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Afghanistan, and have been in US custody for at least 180 days.

Wyden’s warning comes after a similar attempt by the Trump administration last year, when dozens of migrant children were taken from their homes and bused to airfields in Texas bound for Guatemala. A federal judge eventually stopped the planes, and lawyers for the children described the experience as traumatic.

Legal Protections

Migrant children traveling alone are usually entrusted to US government care, and there are various legal protections designed to protect them. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 requires that children be placed in the ‘least restrictive setting possible,’ which generally means that they can be released to a sponsor such as a relative in the US while their immigration proceedings play out.

Original reporting: WLKY Louisville — read the source article.