Lawyers swiftly challenged the expulsions, and a federal judge in Washington, DC temporarily halted the removals just before 4:30 a.m. on August 31. Acting ORR director Angie Salazar said in a sworn declaration that the attempted expulsion was “phase one” of a government plan to “repatriate” 327 unaccompanied Guatemalan children. Out of about 2,000 unaccompanied children in ORR custody, an estimated 600 to 700 are Guatemalan, many of whom are Indigenous. Human rights law and US federal law do not allow the government to whisk children seeking protection away without due process. Yesterday’s preliminary injunction blocks the removal of all unaccompanied Guatemalan children in ORR custody without final orders of removal from an immigration judge or permission from the US Attorney General to voluntarily depart.