US plans to send hundreds of Guatemalan children in custody back to home country

It’s the latest in a series of moves since President Donald Trump returned to office focused on unaccompanied migrant children in the United States in this case, plucking kids out of government custody, where they’re waiting to be released to a relative or guardian in the US who can care for them while they make their case for protection, and sending them to Guatemala, where they’re expected to be reunited with family.

The administration has identified more than 600 children from Guatemala in the custody of the Health and Human Services Department, which is charged with their care until they can be released, to potentially deport as a part of a pilot program in coordination with the Guatemalan government, according to two sources.