A federal judge in the United States has challenged the administration's efforts to deport immigrant children after blocking the deportation of a Honduran teenager. 

On Tuesday, Judge Emmett Sullivan ordered that the 16-year-old boy, who was scheduled to be expelled on Wednesday, could not be deported, Aljazeera reported. 

In a statement by the American Civil Liberties Union, the teenager-who goes by J.B.B.C.-fled to the United States because gang members threatened his life after seeing one member kill someone in his neighbourhood. He came to the country to see his father who also fled Honduras after falling victim to persecution. 

New Border Rules

Under normal circumstances, the teenager would have been under the custody of the U.S. Health and Human Services until he and his father could be rejoined and proceed with his asylum hearing. 

An anti-trafficking law, also known as the Flores agreement, was implemented in 2008 to prevent children from being mistreated or used by criminals. Under the law, immigrants from countries other than Canada and Mexico should be given access to legal counsel. They should also be released to family living in the United States or held in the least restrictive environment. 

However, on March 21, the Trump administration imposed new border rules that allow U.S. officials to remove or deport asylum seekers without a hearing during the COVID-19 crisis. 

The U.S. government claims the new rules were aimed at closing the border to asylum seekers to protect the health of the public, as reported by N.B.C. News.  

The United Nations High Commission on Refugees believes there may have been more than 1,000 unaccompanied immigrants youths that were deported in late May before family members in their home countries received a notification to receive them. 

According to Reuters, border officials have expelled over 7,000 migrants-377 of whom were minors-since the new bill took effect. Data from March 27 to April 2 showed about 120 of the children arrived at the border without a parent or a guardian. They were sent on planes back to their home countries. 

Undocumented Immigrants

The number of migrants at the border has fallen since the new border rules were enacted. On March 27, nearly 1,400 immigrants were under C.B.P. custody; in late-April, it was down to 300 people. 

With more children denied admission at the border, the number of unaccompanied minors taken into federal custody has also dropped. Border Patrol statistics said thousands of children from Mexico are apprehended monthly. In April, 166 children were processed as "unaccompanied minors" while 600 others were expelled.

The H.H.S. office, the agency responsible for caring for unaccompanied minors, said there were 2,800 children in custody on Monday from the 3,100 nearly a week earlier. Currently, they are receiving an average of one child each day. 

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