US President Donald Trump said on the social network Truth Social that National Guard troops managed to rid the country's capital, Washington, of crime in less than 2 weeks after the militants were transferred to the city.
“Washington is a crime-free zone in just 12 days“, the US president said in a statement.
On August 11, at a press conference at the White House, Trump noted that “crime in Washington is out of control“, so the American leader announced the transfer of National Guard fighters to the capital to ensure law and order.
The head of state also transferred the city's police force under the control of the federal government.
On August 22, he announced its readiness to use federal government resources, including the regular army, to step up the fight against crime in other megacities, including Chicago and New York.
After the US government loaded children onto planes at night to return them to their native Guatemala, a federal judge temporarily blocked the flights - with the children still on board - because their lawyers said that the authorities were violating US laws and putting vulnerable children at potential risk, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The unusual drama unfolded in the early hours of the weekend and moved from the runways in Texas to the courtroom in Washington. It was the latest clash over the repressive measures of President Donald Trump's administration on immigration - and another high-stakes conflict between the administration’s enforcement efforts and the legal safeguards that Congress has created for vulnerable migrants.
For now, hundreds of Guatemalan children who arrived unaccompanied will remain while the legal battle plays out in the coming weeks.
"I don’t want there to be any ambiguity," said Judge Sparkle L. Suknanan, who said her ruling applied broadly to Guatemalan minors who arrived in the United States without parents or guardians.
Minutes after a hastily scheduled hearing concluded Sunday afternoon, five charter buses pulled up to a plane parked at the border airport in Harlingen, Texas. Hours earlier, authorities had escorted dozens of passengers – perhaps 50 – to the plane in a section of the airport that is restricted to government planes, including those carrying out deportations. The passengers wore colorful clothing used in government shelters for migrant children.
The U.S. government insists it is reuniting Guatemalan children with their parents or guardians who have requested their return. Lawyers for at least some of the minors say that is absurd and that in any case, authorities should still follow legal procedures, which they have not done.
While Sunday's hearing was held in a case filed in federal court in Washington, similar urgent requests were filed in other parts of the country. Lawyers in Arizona and Illinois have asked federal judges there to block deportations of unaccompanied minors, underscoring how quickly the fight against the government's efforts has spread.