U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, serving as the emergency judge over the Labor Day weekend, issued an emergency order early Sunday that halted the Trump administration's apparent plan to deport more than 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan children .
The order came just hours after immigrant advocacy groups filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the unannounced removals.
Sooknanan rescheduled a hearing from 3 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. after learning that some children were already being prepared for removal. In her ruling, Sooknanan ordered the government to immediately cease all efforts to transfer or repatriate any child covered by the lawsuit, which was filed by the National Immigration Law Center (NILC). The putative class includes all Guatemalan minors in federal custody as of August