Here's A Taste -- Of The Baseless Noem / Miller Claims Made, To Try To "Bootstrap" Summary Deportations -- Of Guatemalan Children Without Guardians In The US... Damn.

As the fast moving case protecting the Guatemalan kids rolls forward in DC, we read a silly Saturday declaration filing -- by the Noemites.

The agent purports to say that she (alone?) is tasked with deciding "due process" rights for under age people on US soil.

That is transparently silly.

Article III judges are the ones empowered, exclusively, to make those determinations -- about the "best interests of the child" found on US soil. Guatemala doesn't decide that -- and the guardians in that nation do not decide that. If either wishes to assert interests in the due process proceedings, they may travel to the US, and appear in a US District courtroom, to make their claims. Short of that, there is not much else to be said.

In very unusual situations, a diplomatic solution might arise, for (say) the child of a foreign president or king. But even then, the arrangement must be blessed in a federal district court. So, this all is just mostly. . . non responsive:

. . .ORR is statutorily responsible for the care and placement of unaccompanied alien children. [Ed. Note: "placement" does NOT include deportation decision-making!]

With respect to Guatemala’s request for repatriation of UACs, ORR made individualized determinations based on a review of its records to identify children who met the above criteria. These children do not have a parent or legal guardian in the United States who can sponsor them, meaning they will either need to remain in ORR care and custody in a group care setting, or be released to non-parent sponsors. Further, ORR verified based on its records that each of the identified children do have a parent or legal guardian in their home country of Guatemala and their government is requesting that the children be returned to their parent or legal guardian in Guatemala. ORR’s statutory authorities contemplate reunification with a parent abroad in appropriate cases, and in ORR’s view, given these facts and the other criteria identified above, it is appropriate and in the best interests of these children to reunite these children with their parent or legal guardian in their home country. . . .

[Ed. Note: It is absolutely clear that ORR LACKS that power -- to decide removal of unaccompanied minors on US soil, without an Article III judge holding a true due process hearing. Damn.]

Based on the aforementioned criteria, as of August 29, 2025, ORR initially identified a total of 457 Guatemalan UAC in ORR care and custody as potentially appropriate for reunification with a parent or legal guardian as requested by the Government of Guatemala. After individualized case review, 91 children were removed from eligibility for reunification. ORR reviewed the children’s cases for claims of fear of persecution with DHS’s verification, as well as whether there were any pending asylum applications. Moreover, any child with other pending forms of immigration relief or human trafficking indicators were also removed from consideration. DHS also performed its review of the same case files for fidelity with their records. Any child under 10 years of age was further removed from consideration. 327 children were determined to be ultimately eligible in the end. Based on available information and belief, five of the ten named plaintiffs were included among these 327 UACs. . . .

Again -- Trump/Noem/Salazar here pretend that they are allowed to serve as the cop, the judge, the jury -- and effectively, the executioner -- all in one moment. That is precisely what the Founders wrote we would never again accept: no "Star Chambers".

Every person (young or old) present on our soil has full 14^th Amendment rights. Full stop.

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