(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from deporting unaccompanied minors to Guatemala, saying the government’s claims that it was simply reuniting children with their parents “crumbled like a house of cards.”

The move came 18 days after government officials put dozens of children on planes destined for their home country. An emergency order prevented the children from being removed.

During the initial emergency hearing on Aug. 31, the government claimed the children were being reunited with their parents in coordination with the Guatemalan government.

“But that explanation crumbled like a house of cards about a week later,” U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly wrote in Thursday’s ruling.

“There is no

See Full Page