Appeals Court Lifts Block on Trump Policy Expelling Migrant Children Without Court Hearings
A mother and her children go through a police checkpoint where Honduran authorities inspect that each person carries their identity documents as part of a migrant caravan heading to the United States on January 15, 2021 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. The caravan plans to walk across Guatemala and Mexico to eventually reach the United States. Central Americans expect to receive asylum and most Hondurans decided to migrate after being hit by recent hurricanes Eta and Iota. Honduras recently asked to U.S. to extend their Temporary Protected Status. Milo Espinoza/Getty Images

A federal appeals court on Friday allowed border authorities to use an emergency policy under former President Donald Trump to quickly return unaccompanied migrant children apprehended at the US-Mexico border without an asylum interview or a court hearing.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reverses a lower court ruling in November that blocks authorities from expelling migrant children at the border.

The expulsions started during the Trump administration as it closed the border to asylum seekers under a public health policy citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump used the rule established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to authorize border agents to return migrants to Mexico or to their respective home countries.

After a lower court barred the practice, the Trump administration requested for the policy to stay. According to a New York Times report, the said policy expelled thousands of migrant children without the chance to assess their asylum requests or other protections under U.S. law.

Before the federal court order, the Associated Press reported that around 8,800 unaccompanied migrant children were known to have been expelled, including kids as young as nine.

The report noted that many migrant children, including several babies with their parents, have been detained in hotels in border states before being placed on deportation flights.

In the last three months of 2020, border agents had conducted over 180,000 expulsions. They continued expelling most border crossers - adults and children - even during President Joe Biden's first days.

Biden's Promise on Immigration Policies

Pres. Biden earlier vowed that he would enact a more humane policy at the border. However, his administration did not say how it will handle the pandemic emergency rule.

The previous administration under Donald Trump argued that the rule was needed to prevent the further spread of the COVID-19 in detention facilities.

Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, said that if the administration did not immediately lift the restrictions, it could still use its decision not to apply the policy to migrant children.

Trump's top immigration officials earlier warned that if Pres. Biden would roll back the restrictions, border crossings will continue to rise.

Meanwhile, Breitbart reported that many migrants are quietly traveling north to the U.S. border to accept Biden's apparent offer of asylum and jobs.

Citing a New York Times report, it noted that there was a growing number of migrants filling shelters along the migratory routes.

According to Father Mauro Verzeletti, director of the Casa del Migrante migrant shelter in Guatemala City, the shelter has already rented an annex to handle overflow from the main building.

Earlier this month, Guatemalan forces broke up a large caravan of migrants from San Pedro Sula, Honduras that numbered as many as 8,000.

The migrants are fleeing violence and poverty made worse by the global pandemic and recent deadly hurricanes that caused severe destruction in Honduras. They were hoping that Biden would be more welcoming to asylum seekers than Trump.

Biden is using his executive orders to reopen the flow of government-aided consumers and cheap workers into the country. But critics said this makes it more difficult for governments in Latin-American to block migrants.

They further noted that although it is good for the economy, it is bad for the U.S. employees and families.