The Trump regime yesterday grounded planes carrying migrant children they intended to deport to Guatemala after a federal judge issued an emergency order temporarily blocking any removal of about 600 unaccompanied minors after ignoring the original order. Via The Washington Post:

Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said she learned from plaintiffs that the administration was putting hundreds of unaccompanied minors onto flights on Sunday morning after she had issued an order earlier in the day temporarily barring officials from deporting 10 Guatemalan children, ages 10 to 17, named in a lawsuit to their country of origin.

“I have the government attempting to remove minor children from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend,” Sooknanan said during a hearing Sunday. “That’s surprising.”

She clarified at the hearing that her pause extended to cover the roughly 600 Guatemalan children at risk of deportation because the initial suit, filed by the National Immigration Law Center, sought class action status.

Drew Ensign, who represented the Justice Department, said during the hearing that his agency was not aware of the initial order blocking the deportations when the children were first put on the plane.

At the hearing, which Sooknanan rescheduled to take place earlier in the day, the judge said that she tried reaching Justice Department representatives early Sunday to let them know about the emergency filing but didn’t get a response. She then paused the hearing and told the Justice Department to circulate her order — which she made around 4 a.m. Sunday — to the Trump administration. Ensign responded that the planes were being halted and would not leave the United States while the judge’s order stands.

So they were lying, and just daring the judge to stop them.