LGML v. Noem

Update: On Aug. 31, the district court issued an emergency Temporary Restraining Order preventing the government from removing any Guatemalan unaccompanied minor in U.S. custody for 14 days.

Case Overview

This lawsuit seeks to stop the Trump administration from unlawfully expelling hundreds of unaccompanied Guatemalan children from the United States. NILC is seeking class certification and an emergency temporary restraining order to prevent the minors’ imminent unlawful removal after the administration reportedly reached an agreement with the Guatemalan government to return the children, who are currently in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).

Under federal law, the government must provide migrant children without a parent or legal guardian in the U.S. with access to legal counsel and cannot place them in expedited removal except in limited circumstances, which do not apply to Guatemalan children. Because unaccompanied minors are uniquely vulnerable to coercion, an immigration judge must approve their voluntary return to their home countries.

The Trump administration’s unlawful plan to deport the children violates these longstanding protections under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorizations Act (TVPRA), federal legislation that passed in 2008 with rare, overwhelming bipartisan support. The plan also violates the children’s Constitutional right to due process and the Constitution’s protections against discrimination based on national origin.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of ten individual minors. The lead plaintiff in the case, L.G.M.L, is an indigenous girl whose mother passed away and who suffered abuse and neglect at the hands of other family members in Guatemala.