A federal judge has denied the Trump administration’s request to end a policy that has been in place for nearly three decades to protect immigrant children in federal custody. US District Judge Dolly Gee called last week’s hearing “déjà vu” after reminding the court of the federal government’s attempt to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement in 2019 under the first Trump administration. Gee referred to the government’s appeal to a law they believed kept the court from enforcing the agreement.
The Flores agreement, named for a teenage plaintiff, was the result of over a decade of litigation between attorneys representing the rights of migrant children and the U.S. government over widespread allegations of mistreatment in the 1980s. The agreement set standards for how licensed shelters must provide food, water, adult supervision, emergency medical services, toilets, sinks, temperature control, and ventilation. It also limited how long U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) could detain child immigrants to 72 hours. The Biden administration successfully pushed to partially end the agreement last year. Advocates argue that the government is holding children beyond the time limits, with CBP holding 46 children for over a week in May and 213 children in custody for more than 72 hours in March and April.
