It began with a pair of notices from the Trump administration and then a flood of messages and calls among attorneys and child advocates: Guatemalan children in US government custody were being moved in the middle of the night to be sent back to their home country .

Late Saturday and into the early morning hours of Sunday, staff at shelters woke children up — some of them crying or vomiting in fear, legal filings say — to prepare them to fly back to their home country. Shelter providers were directed to collect personal belongings and any necessary medications, as well as two prepared sack lunches. Attorneys, meanwhile, were advised their clients were going to be removed from the country.

The South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR), which provides legal services at

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