U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the Trump administration Wednesday to stop rapidly deporting unaccompanied minors who illegally cross the border amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The emergency declaration — challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, Texas Civil Rights Project, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and Oxfam — was invoked in March under the Public Health Service Act.
The Trump administration used it to deport thousands of minors, arguing in court that it must do so during the pandemic to prevent infecting border agents.