HARLINGEN, Texas — After the U.S. government loaded children onto planes overnight to be sent back to their native Guatemala, a federal judge temporarily blocked the flights — with the youngsters still inside — as their attorneys said authorities were violating U.S. laws and sending vulnerable kids into potential peril.

The extraordinary drama played out over predawn hours on a U.S. holiday weekend and vaulted from tarmacs in Texas to a courtroom in Washington. It was the latest showdown over the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration — and the latest high-stakes clash between the administration's enforcement efforts and legal safeguards that Congress created for vulnerable migrants.

For now, hundreds of Guatemalan children who arrived unaccompanied will stay while the legal f

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