California
California Wildfire Updates: Fires Near Full Containment—As Officials Warn Of Flooding, Mudslides
Three active fires in Los Angeles neared full containment Sunday, as the region receives much-needed rain that has produced flood and mudslide warnings lasting through Monday.
Cal Fire data marked the Palisades Fire at 87% containment, the Eaton Fire at 95% containment and the Hughes Fire at 92% containment.
A flood watch lasting until Monday at 4 p.m. goes into effect for areas in or near burn scars created by the Eaton, Franklin, Palisades, Hughes and Bridge fires, with the NWS noting a 10% to 20% chance of significant debris flows (see what areas are at risk here).
The NWS’s red flag warning for most of Los Angeles and Ventura counties expired, meaning firefighters should receive a break from strong winds and gusts that swept through the regions Wednesday and Thursday.
President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to visit Los Angeles on Friday, suggested abolishing the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is set to cover 100% of the cost of California’s disaster response to the fires for 180 days, suggesting the federal government would still fund disaster response efforts but states would be responsible for response actions.
The National Weather Service forecasted a low pressure system “likely” to bring much needed rain to Southern California would move through the area Saturday into Sunday, though experts have warned the precipitation could create flash flooding, mudslides and toxic runoff.
The National Weather Service warned Thursday is a particularly dangerous day for fires in Los Angles and Ventura counties, adding most of both counties are at “critical red flag levels” with humidity less than 15% and winds that frequently hit 25 mph or greater.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday night, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal disaster funds from California as he blamed the state’s fish conservation efforts in its north for water shortages that have hampered the firefighting efforts. Trump told Fox: “I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down.”
The Los Angeles Fire Department said it was able to stop forward progress of the Sepulveda Fire, which covered 40 acres near the Getty Center and Los Angeles’ upscale Bel Air neighborhood.
The wildfires have cost the city of Los Angeles at least $385 million so far, according to a preliminary report released by the city on Wednesday. Around $350 million of that cost is linked to the damage caused by the fire to the city’s infrastructure.
A small new fire, called the Sepulveda Fire, was reported in Los Angeles county near the Getty Center and state freeway 405, and according to Cal Fire it covers around 20 acres.
According to Cal Fire’s latest update the Hughes Fire expanded to cover 10,176 acres with 14% of the blaze contained—but despite it swelling in size, no structural damage or casualties have been linked to the Hughes Fire so far as the blaze mostly covers hills in the northern part of Los Angeles County.
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) called for an investigation into delayed evacuation orders issued for Western Altadena, where 17 people died, at the start of the Eaton Fire on Jan. 7.
According to the Los Angeles Times, more than 31,000 people were ordered to evacuate due to the Hughes Fire while evacuation warnings were issued to another 23,000 people.
Cal Fire officials announced the Hughes Fire reached over 9,400 acres, noting no buildings or homes were destroyed as of the early evening.
The Hughes Fire increased to 8,096 acres, spreading northeast and triggering 12 evacuation warnings and 10 evacuation orders for adjacent areas.
The Hughes Fire spread to 5,054 acres in a largely mountainous area.
The Hughes Fire grew to 3,407 acres, according to Cal Fire, with evacuation orders extending to the community of Castaic and evacuation warnings stretching to the northernmost parts of Santa Clarita, which had an estimated population of 224,028 in 2023.
The Hughes Fire began just north of the city of Santa Clarita and quickly spread to about 500 acres, with 0% contained, triggering evacuation orders in Naylor Place and Martins.
Cal Fire data marked the Palisades Fire at 68% containment and the Eaton Fire at 91% containment, listing no other active fires in Los Angeles as a red flag warning is in effect for much the region until Friday evening.
A “particularly dangerous situation” is forecasted to develop in parts of Ventura County, the San Fernando Valley and adjacent areas just north of the regions, with the National Weather Service warning of 50 to 70 mph wind gusts across coasts and valleys, as well as 60 to 100 mph gusts in mountains and foothills from noon Monday to Tuesday morning.
President Donald Trump commented about the fires in Los Angeles during his inauguration speech, focusing on the impact they have had on “some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country,” with Trump adding, “They don’t have a home any longer. That’s interesting.”
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced another eight people were charged for crimes linked to the wildfires in Los Angeles, bringing the total to 17 as the accused face charges such as looting, arson and impersonation of a firefighter.
The National Weather Service said winds peaked for the day and would lower into the evening, noting the end of several red flag warnings at 6 p.m. with the exception of warnings in mountainous regions that remain effective until Thursday at 3 p.m.
Some 25 people have died, with nine confirmed deaths from the Palisades fire and 16 from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner said. An earlier toll for the Eaton Fire was at 17, but officials later clarified that a set of remains was non-human.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order aimed at cracking down on “predatory land speculators making aggressive and unsolicited cash offers” to victims of the fire to purchase their property. The order makes it illegal to make “unsolicited undervalued offers to purchase property,” in specified areas of Los Angeles County.
Cal Fire says the Auto Fire, which broke out Monday in Ventura County, is 25% contained several hours after fire crews stopped forward progress on the 56-acre blaze.
The National Weather Service’s “particularly dangerous situation” red flag warning for parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties went into effect through Wednesday, and the agency’s LA office noted that while such warnings “do not predict fire starts, they do highlight an extremely dangerous environment that is favorable to very rapid fire growth if a fire does start.”
The Auto Fire started late on Monday night and rapidly grew to cover 56 acres (the fire received its name because of the large number of auto dealerships in the impacted area, according to the Los Angeles Times).
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power issued a warning that it may be forced to cut off power supply—with outages potentially lasting as long as 48 hours—in certain areas as a safety measure to prevent wildfires while the Red Flag Warning remained in effect.
Local, state, and federal officials announced help for those affected: former President Joe Biden announced wildfire victims are eligible for a $770 one-time payment designated for essential items (here’s who can apply), while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order aiming to expedite the process of rebuilding homes, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed $2.5 billion in additional funding for disaster response and recovery efforts in Los Angeles that will need to be approved by the legislature.
Hochman announced nine people were charged in connection to looting carried out in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, in addition to one arson charge for a man who allegedly started a fire in the city of Azusa, which is located about 20 miles east of Altadena.
The NWS issued a red flag warning for a large portion of southern California until Wednesday and said much of the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County would be in a “Particularly Dangerous Situation”—an especially severe fire warning—from early Tuesday morning until noon Wednesday. Forecasters are expecting 45 to 70 mph wind gusts and low humidity capable of creating rapid fire growth in the most hard-hit areas: “In other words, this setup is about as bad as it gets,” the agency said.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said 23 people have been reported missing as a result of the fires—17 near the Eaton Fire and six near the Palisades Fire—and LAPD Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said six people are also missing and unaccounted-for in the city of Los Angeles, though it’s unclear if there’s overlap with Luna’s count. The death toll remains at 24, including a former child actor from Australia, a surfer from Malibu and a 67-year-old amputee who refused to leave his disabled son behind. Luna also said 34 people have been arrested since the fires began for breaking curfew and other offenses, including three arrests for drone-related incidents.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN the agency will cover the full cost of removing wildfire debris for six months—180 days—but warned cleanup from the disaster is going to take longer.
The Pasadena Unified School District announced all its schools will remain closed this week as evacuation orders remain in effect, the air quality in the area is “unhealthy” and “damage to school facilities and safety concerns, make it impossible to reopen schools for in-person learning at this time.”
Bass announced firefighters and engines were being “strategically pre-deployed in areas close to the Palisades Fire as well as various fire stations throughout the city,” in response to the National Weather Service’s warnings about strong gusts winds on Tuesday and Wednesday that have raised risk of further flareups early this week.
The Hurst Fire, the smallest of the active fires which covers 799 acres, is now 95% contained and has no active evacuation orders or warnings linked to it.
The Los Angeles United School District said it will reopen most of its schools and all of its offices on Monday but officials will continue to “monitor conditions” and inform families about any changes by 5.30 a.m. on Monday.
Authorities will start drawing up plans for evacuated residents to return to their neighborhoods “first thing Thursday,” after another bout of heavy wind subsides, County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said in a meeting.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN, “the winds are potentially getting dangerous and strong again,” adding that the firefighters’ response in the coming days “all depends on the weather.”
All evacuation warnings linked to the Archer Fire in Granada Hills are lifted as the blaze lessened in size to about 19 acres, after officials lifted evacuation orders and said the fire was no longer spreading.
Newsom directed state water and fire officials to conduct an independent investigation into causes of the “lost water supply and water pressure in municipal water systems” during the fires, also requesting reviews of preparation and response procedures taken by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, as well as Los Angeles County Officials.
Biden, who described Los Angeles as a “war zone,” said the death toll for the fires is still expected to rise, though it’s not clear how significantly: “There are still a lot of people who are unaccounted for. We don’t know where they are,” he said.
Bass said FEMA has pledged to reimburse disaster relief expenses, as the Palisades Fire expanded to more than 20,000 acresand the Eaton Fire increased to nearly 14,000 acres.
Kevin McGowan, director of Los Angeles County’s Office of Emergency Management, apologized during a press conference for an evacuation alert mistakenly sent to millions of county residents at about 4 a.m. local time, saying the error was “not human driven” while acknowledging “an extreme amount of frustration, fear and anger.”
Satellite images released by Maxar on Jan. 9 showed the scale of devastation caused by fires so far as Cal Fire’s latest update says the blazes have destroyed more than 10,000 structures, including homes and businesses.
Biden announced he has approved Newsom’s request for a Major Disaster Declaration, adding that it will allow “folks impacted by the Southern California wildfires to get cash assistance to cover things like groceries and medicine.”
The Kenneth Fire grew in size to cover nearly 1,000 acres, according to Cal Fire’s latest update, but firefighters have managed to contain 35% of the blaze.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department said a fire fighting plane struck by a civilian drone over the Palisades Fire was the SuperScooper—an amphibious plane which can scoop up water from a river or lake and aerially dump it on a fire—and has been grounded, though it managed to land safely.
The death toll from all the fires rose to 10, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office announced.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said his department has requested support from the California National Guard and is trying to implement a curfew between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. in the areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires to prevent looting and other crimes.
The Ventura County Fire Department said, “forward progress of the Kenneth fire has been stopped,” and the fire continues to hold at 960 acres with 0% containment.
The LAPD told local outlets they received a call informing them that a “suspect was ‘attempting to light a fire’ in the area of the Kenneth Fire,” and while the suspect is now in custody the department added: “We are continuing our investigation and we CANNOT confirm any connection to any fire.”
Los Angeles Police have arrested a man suspected of arson in the Woodland Hills area, and the department told NewsNation they are now investigating if the Kenneth Fire was intentionally set.
Newsom approved a request from Los Angeles County to deploy 8,000 National Guard members to the region to help combat fires and prevent looting (the sheriff’s department arrested 20 people for looting as of Jan. 9).
The NFL announced the Jan. 13 wild card playoff matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings will be moved from SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, citing concerns for public safety.
The Kenneth Fire began in the neighborhood of West Hills and spread to 50 acres, triggering evacuation orders for some residents in the Hidden Hills community.
The death toll from the fires reached six, according to multiple outlets, with the city of Malibu reporting its first death of a resident killed in the Palisades fire.
Biden said the federal government will pay the full cost of the disaster response for 180 days, covering the costs of things like “debris and hazard removal, temporary shelters, first responders’ salaries and all necessary measures to protect life and property” (the federal funding initially covered 75% of eligible firefighting costs).
Bass said the Sunset fire in the Hollywood Hills was “fully contained” after the fire began Wednesday evening and spread to 43 acres.
Los Angeles Unified School District announced its schools and offices will remain closed through Friday, adding students will continue to have access to digital academic resources, meal distribution and mental health support services.
Pasadena urged residents in a portion of the city to not use tap water for drinking or cooking “until further notice,” citing the Eaton Fire’s damage to reservoirs and pump stations that potentially impacted water quality in certain areas.
The wildfires severely impacted the air quality in the Los Angeles area with levels of PM 2.5 pollutants—airborne particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter—hitting 165, which is labeled “unhealthy” by the EPA’s AirNow tracker and 11 times above the World Health Organization’s recommended safe limit of 15.
At least 2,000 homes, businesses and other buildings have been destroyed by the fires so far, and more than 130,000 people have been forced to evacuate—some even multiple times as the fires spread to other parts of Los Angeles county.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said “the majority of the Evacuation Zone for the Sunset Fire is LIFTED” in an update shortly after midnight as Cal Fire’s tracker showed the size of the blaze in the Hollywood Hills shrinking from its previous size of 60 acres to 43 acres at 12:17 a.m. PST.
The city of Santa Monica instituted a mandatory curfew from sunset to sunrise on Wednesday night “to support law enforcement efforts in these zones, and other measures to facilitate an effective response,” the Palisades Fire.
Another fire, called the Sunset Fire, broke out around 6 p.m. PST in the Hollywood Hills which has rapidly grown in recent hours to engulf more than 50 acres or area, prompting mandatory evacuations.
Biden canceled the final overseas trip of his presidency on Wednesday—shortly before he was set to travel to Italy and the Vatican—to stay in Washington D.C. and monitor the emergency in California.
Biden approves a Major Disaster Declaration for California, making federal funding available to those impacted by the fires in Los Angeles County.
Nearly 1 million customers of electricity providers in Los Angeles County were without power, PowerOutage.us reported before it said the outage management system of Southern California Edison—the main electricity provider in the county—went offline.
The Palisades Fire in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades—an affluent coastal neighborhood—exploded to 15,832 acres, according to Cal Fire, making it the largest fire of the four burning in Los Angeles County as of Wednesday afternoon.
The Eaton Fire in Altadena, a small city directly north of Pasadena, grew to 10,600 acres with 0% containment, according to the Cal Fire.
Bass announced Los Angeles Fire Department air operations resumed after a lengthy suspension of air support began Tuesday due to high winds.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said FEMA is “closely monitoring” the wildfires and has authorized additional assistance from the agency to support firefighting efforts.
The Woodley Fire began in the Sepulveda Basin neighborhood, expanding to 30 acres before being brought under control, according to The New York Times.
The Hurst Fire ignited in the suburban area of Sylmar.
Newsom declared a state of emergency, urging residents to heed evacuation orders and saying, “This is a highly dangerous windstorm creating extreme fire risk, and we’re not out of the woods.”
The Palisades Fire started in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and resulted in about 30,000 people receiving evacuation orders as it initially spread to about 2,000 acres.
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The Palisades Fire began Jan. 7 and burned 23,448 acres as of Sunday, with about 87% of the fire’s perimeter contained, according to Cal Fire. Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said Jan. 9 “it is safe to say that the Palisades Fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles.”
The second blaze, called the Eaton Fire, began in the evening on Jan. 7 in Eaton Canyon near the San Gabriel Mountains and grew rapidly, covering 14,021 acres with 95% contained as of Sunday. The fire triggered a round of mandatory evacuations in the nearby areas of Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre.
The Hughes Fire, which broke out Wednesday north of Santa Clarita, has burned about 10,425 acres and is 92% contained as of Friday. At least 31,000 people in the area were under evacuation orders the day the fire broke out.
The Sepulveda Fire started Thursday and covered about 45 acres, eventually reaching 60% containment as of Friday. The fire broke out near the Bel-Air neighborhood, east of the Palisades Fire.
Preliminary data from Cal Fire indicates the Palisades and Eaton fires rank among California’s most destructive wildfires in state history:
JPMorgan analysts led by Jimmy Bhullar estimated in a note Jan. 9 there could be $50 billion in total damages, including $20 billion in insured losses, though they noted “estimates of potential economic and insured losses are likely to increase.” Those estimates would place the fires as the costliest in U.S. history. Jasper Cooper, vice president-senior credit officer at Moody’s Ratings, said the credit rating business expects “insured losses to run in the billions of dollars given the high value of homes and businesses in the impacted areas,” adding “commercial property losses could be significant.”
A mix of extremely gusty winds, drought conditions and low humidity created conditions conducive for fires to quickly spread. The appearance of weather conditions suggestive of La Niña, a climate phenomenon linked to drier conditions and drought in southern parts of the U.S., likely played a large part in priming southern California for extreme fire conditions. Los Angeles in particular has seen an underwhelming amount of rain in the last eight months alongside a dry winter. The last time the city recorded over a tenth of an inch of rainfall was last May, according to the Los Angeles Times, contributing to drought. The dry conditions paired with historically strong winds gave way to this week’s fires. Wind gusts of up to 99 mph were reported near Altadena and other nearby areas early Wednesday. The National Weather Service forecast wind gusts of 50 to 80 mph in parts of southern California and up to 100 mph gusts in mountains and foothills last week. The conditions are the result of a wind pattern called the Santa Ana winds or “devil winds,” which are often fast-moving, dry and warm winds that originate inland, around Nevada and Utah, and blow toward the coastal regions of Southern California. Cal Fire is still investigating the specific causes for each of the fires blazing in Los Angeles County.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner confirmed 27 people had died as of Friday, including 17 from the Eaton Fire and 10 from the Palisades Fire, though the number could climb. At least 16 others were reported missing to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, but that number could also climb.
See a full list here. Paris Hilton, who wrote she had evacuated her home, reportedly lost her Malibu home to the fire. Billy Crystal and his wife Janice said they lost their Pacific Palisades home to the fire, after first moving to the location in 1979. Jamie Lee Curtis said she likely lost her home to the fire and wrote on Instagram calling for people to “reach out to anyone who lives in Los Angeles” to offer assistance. Eugene Levy, the Pacific Palisades’ honorary mayor, told the Los Angeles Times he fled his home and said the “smoke looked pretty black and intense over Temescal Canyon.” Meanwhile, actor Mark Hamill wrote on Instagram he evacuated his Malibu home, while Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in Los Angeles was put under an evacuation order, though no one was in the home at the time the order was placed, spokesperson Ernesto Apreza said.
Curtis, who advocated in a “Tonight Show” appearance for people to donate to relief efforts, said she was donating $1 million to start a support fund for the city and people impacted by the fire. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have reportedly made monetary donations to relief efforts, and donated clothing, children’s items and other supplies. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, the third-wealthiest person in the world, said he and his wife Priscilla are personally donating to relief efforts, and Jared Isaacman, the billionaire businessman tapped by Trump to serve as the next administrator of NASA, has said he will match the first $1 million donated to his company’s relief campaign. The NFL is donating $5 million to relief efforts.
Most Los Angeles Unified Schools were reopened Jan. 13 after being shut down on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10. Schools in areas most impacted by the fires or accompanying evacuation orders were temporarily moved to alternate sites (list here). Pepperdine University announced its Malibu campus will resume in-person classes on Jan. 21.
The voting deadline for the Academy Awards was pushed back to Jan. 19, with the announcement of this year’s Oscar nominees also delayed to Jan. 23 at 5:30 a.m. PST. The award show is set to take place in early March. The Grammys are reportedly still scheduled for the first weekend of February, though organizers say this year’s show will focus on fundraising for relief efforts. The Critics Choice Awards—slated for Sunday—were postponed due to the fires, while the Screen Actors Guild cancelled its in-person awards nomination ceremony last week. Several TV shows—from “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to “NCIS”—paused production last week but reportedly plan to resume this week (see here for a list).
An NFL wild card playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings took place in Arizona instead of SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area. The Rams secured 750 spots on 15 buses to take fans from Los Angeles to Phoenix and back. Several other sporting events in the L.A. area were postponed, including an NHL game between the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames, an NBA matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets and a women’s college basketball game featuring Pepperdine University and the University of Portland.
Los Angeles International Airport, located about 19 miles south of the Pacific Palisades, has not experienced significant flight cancellations, according to FlightAware.
Trump and one of his key advisers, Elon Musk, have been critical of the local government’s response to the fire since they broke out. In a Jan. 9 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk claimed “the immense loss of homes in LA is primarily due to” bad governance leading to a shortage of water and “nonsensical overregulation that prevented creating fire breaks and doing brush clearing.” Trump has also taken aim at Bass and Newsom, saying on Truth Social Jan. 9 “nobody has ever seen such failed numbers before!” (referring to the Palisades Fire’s zero containment at the time) and blamed it on “gross incompetence” by Newsom and Bass.
Last Tuesday, the California Legislature cast a vote on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s controversial water tunnel project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by not voting at all.
A couple of bills meant to speed up the process were allowed to die in committee before reaching the state Assembly. Opponents of the project consider it a victory in a fight to protect the water of the delta and the towns that live along its banks.
The delta town of Isleton sits frozen in time, a relic from its “Old West” past. It may be a little quiet these days, but it’s no ghost town — yet. It all depends on the river that runs alongside the town.
“Well, the history of Isleton is really deep in the river,” said Iva Walton. “Isleton used to be the main stop on the steamboat between Sacramento and San Francisco. So, it has a long history of depending on the traffic on the river.”
Walton owns the Mei Wah Beer Room, a former Chinese saloon and brothel in the 1800s. The whole town relies on people visiting the delta, and the proposal to bury a giant tunnel to siphon off billions of gallons of water farther up the Sacramento River to send to Southern California cities and Central Valley farms has drawn the ire of many people living along the delta.
“I think, in general, people are aware that it would be bad for the environment, for the property, the land, and the tourism that comes out here, if the tunnels were to drain a lot of the water from here,” Walton said. “It just seems ridiculous to take from something that is a fragile environment. There has to be other options.”
Still, Newsom has made it his key climate resilience initiative. In his May budget revision, he included a pair of bills that would make things go faster by exempting it from CEQA, simplifying permitting, allowing the state to acquire land, authorizing bonds to pay for the project, and limiting future legal challenges to the tunnel.
His office released a statement saying: “For too long, attempts to modernize our critical water infrastructure have stalled in endless red tape, burdened with unnecessary delay. We’re done with barriers — our state needs to complete this project as soon as possible, so that we can better store and manage water to prepare for a hotter, drier future. Let’s get this built.”
“Barriers are put in its way,” said Jon Rosenfield. “Those barriers being the state’s laws that everyone else needs to comply with. But the governor seems determined to try to circumvent those laws to get his tunnel built.”
Rosenfield is science director for SF Baykeeper, one of the groups opposing the tunnel for the damage they think it would inflict on already faltering fish populations downstream in the delta. But he thinks it is the project’s whopping price tag that caused legislators to let the bills die without a vote.
“I think it means there’s not a lot of support for the Delta Conveyance Project,” Rosenfield said. “I think the majority party, which is the governor’s own party in the legislature, is rightfully concerned about the cost of living. And taking on another $60-100 billion project that doesn’t really address our problems, that would still require more money to address, is not a winning proposition at this time, or ever.”
It’s also not a winning proposition in Isleton, where protecting the river is considered vital.
“It’s an amazing place and I would hate to see it go away,” said Walton.
If approved, the tunnel would run 45 miles from the Sacramento River to an existing reservoir near Livermore, before heading south via the California Aqueduct. Construction probably couldn’t begin until 2029 and would take at least 15 years to complete.
First, the project will have to undergo the normal regulatory process, at least for now.
Newsom said he would like to see the tunnel fully entitled by the time he leaves the governor’s seat. There are major political forces at work and no one seems to think this will be the end of it.
California
Lawyers fear 1,000 children from Central America, dozens in California, are at risk of being deported
Lawyers and advocates fear about 1,000 Central American children, including dozens in California, are at risk of being deported to dangerous situations in their home countries before finishing their immigration court proceedings.
They believe the U.S. government is now expanding their list of hundreds of children across the country, which started with children from Guatemala, to include those from Honduras and El Salvador. Lawyers for some children saw their scheduled hearings disappear from the immigration court calendars in recent weeks.
“It has been heartbreaking and infuriating these last two weeks to have to warn our child clients that our government seeks to violate their rights and return them to danger,” said Marion Donovan-Kaloust, director of legal services at the Los Angeles-based Immigrant Defenders Law Center, which represents unaccompanied minors. “The fact that the government is doubling down on this cruel scheme should shock everyone’s conscience.”
In the middle of the night over Labor Day weekend, the government removed 76 Guatemalan children from shelters in Arizona and Texas. Many of their cases had vanished from calendars before the Department of Homeland Security placed them on a plane set to return to Guatemala without telling their parents, according to court documents.
A transport van with migrants onboard departs the Valley International Airport, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Harlingen, Texas.
(Michael Gonzalez / Associated Press)
A federal judge blocked the flight in an emergency order as children sat aboard a plane on the tarmac. Many feared for their safety should they return to Guatemala, where attorneys say they face gang violence, physical abuse and neglect.
U.S. Department of Justice attorney Sara Welch said during a hearing this week there were “no immediate plans” to remove immigrant children from other countries. The Department of Homeland Security and the Refugee Resettlement office did not respond to requests for comment.
A legal aid worker with knowledge of the situation said Honduran counterparts are expecting 300 children to be returned to the country, which would account for nearly all Honduran children in Office of Refugee Resettlement custody nationwide. Another 100 unaccompanied children from El Salvador are in U.S. government custody, said the worker, who requested anonymity to share sensitive details.
Earlier this summer, Guatemalan officials said U.S. officials had sent them a list of 609 teenagers ages 14-17 to be returned to the country. At least 40 immigrant children living in California were on that list, the legal aid worker said.
In a Sept. 6 sworn declaration, Angie Salazar, acting director of the refugee resettlement office, said that 457 Guatemalan children were initially identified as “potentially appropriate for reunification with a parent or legal guardian,” but that after reviewing individual cases, 327 children were determined to be ultimately eligible for removal from the U.S.
During the hearing this week, Welch walked back earlier government assertions that the children’s parents had asked for them to be returned, after lawyers for the minors produced a memo from the Guatemalan Attorney General that showed officials had contacted about 115 families, nearly half of whom were upset at the prospect of their child being returned.
Another 50 families said they were willing to accept the children, but had not asked for their return. In one case, the memo noted the parents said they will “do everything possible” to get their daughter out of the country again, “because she had received death threats.”
Since the deportation attempt over the holiday weekend, attorneys for the children, who crossed the border without legal guardians and are now under the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, have been on high alert.
One attorney with the non profit Estrella del Paso in Texas said in sworn statements that on Sept. 5 she received an anonymous call from a shelter that the “government was planning to repatriate all children under the ORR custody without making any announcements.”
Another attorney, Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, deputy director of the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project in Arizona similarly said the same day that “credible reports continued to stream in from the network regarding the imminent removal of Honduran children.”
The facilities that did not wake up the Guatemalan children in the middle of the night were sent a “DEMAND FOR COMPLIANCE” letter from the Office of Refugee Resettlement on Aug. 31.
“Negligent or intentional failure to comply with lawful requests from ORR regarding the care of the children in your care facility will result in prompt legal action and may result in civil and criminal penalties and charges, as well as suspension and termination of contractual relations with your facility,” states the letter, which was obtained by The Times.
The letter frightened shelters and foster families, said Shaina Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice.
“We have heard from shelters and foster families that they are very nervous and they don’t know whether to follow the law as they understand it from years of doing this work, or to go along with this novel extrajudicial process,” Aber said.
Lawyers in the case are asking Judge Timothy R. Kelly, a Trump appointee, to extend the emergency order, which expires Sunday, and halt the removal of children from other countries who don’t wish to be returned. They argue U.S. officials do not have authority to remove them without providing them an opportunity to have their cases for asylum heard before an immigration judge.
“I am certain that people there who hurt me and threatened to kill me before will once again hurt me and will carry out their threats to kill me,” said one 17-year-old identified as D.I.R. in court records.
Among those named is a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy in long term foster care in Fullerton. His immigration proceedings had been closed and not yet decided. Another is a 16-year-old Guatemalan girl living in foster care in Riverside. She’s in immigration proceedings and is scared of being sent back. Both are being represented by the Immigrant Defenders Law Center.
Some Guatemalan children in the U.S. were interviewed by officers with Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Efrén C. Olivares, Vice President of Litigation and Legal Strategy for the National Immigration Law Center. Some family members in Guatemala also received calls from local government officials who said their children would be sent back.
Olivares, one of the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs in Washington, warned if the court sided with the Trump administration, “they can do this to all children in ORR custody of every nationality.”
“That’s the worst-case scenario,” he said.
Guatemalan officials have publicly acknowledged efforts to coordinate with the U.S. to receive hundreds of children currently held in U.S. facilities.
The Honduran government posted on X Sept. 1 that it had initiated efforts to coordinate the “safe return of minors deported from the United States.”
While the Salvadoran government has not released public communications about the repatriation of children from the U.S., Olivares pointed to the coordination between the two governments earlier this year, when hundreds of Venezuelan migrants in the U.S. were sent to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador.
“It’s worrisome that they have a very close relationship,” Olivares said
Meanwhile, two localized cases are playing out in Illinois and Arizona.
On Thursday, a federal judge in Arizona temporarily blocked the Trump administration from removing dozens of Guatemalan and Honduran children living there in shelters or foster care. Similarly, a federal judge stopped the removal of Guatemalan children in Illinois, and a hearing is set for Tuesday.
“These are children who are literally here without without a parent, and very vulnerable,” said Laura Smith, executive director of the Children’s Legal Center in Chicago and an attorney on the Illinois case, who also got word from a facility shortly after Labor Day that immigration officials were readying to take custody of Honduran children. “So I am surprised by the administration’s attacks.”
The move to deport unaccompanied children comes amid broader efforts to strip away protections for young immigrants. For instance, the Administration has sought to end funding for lawyers who represent unaccompanied children. It is also seeking to end a decades-old agreement that requires minimum standards of care for children held in detention.
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