A federal judge has rejected the Trump administration’s effort to end a decades-old settlement that sets standards for the treatment of children in immigration custody, rebuffing the government’s arguments that the agreement obstructs its crackdown on illegal immigration.
U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee of the Central District of California said in an Aug. 15 order that the administration had not shown grounds to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement (FSA), first signed in 1997, which limits how long and under what conditions children can be held in Border Patrol facilities.
Government lawyers argued in court filings in May that the pact is an “intrusive regime” that prevents officials from detaining families through the full course of removal proceedings and encourages illegal immigrants to cross the border with children knowing they will be released quickly….