Trump administration seeks to end court settlement protecting migrant children in U.S. custody
Source: CBS News
Updated on: May 22, 2025 / 5:38 PM EDT
The Trump administration on Thursday moved to terminate a longstanding court settlement that has obligated the U.S. government for nearly three decades to provide basic rights and services to migrant children in its custody.
Since 1997, the settlement, known as the Flores Agreement, has required federal U.S. immigration officials to hold migrant children in facilities that are safe and sanitary; provide them access to lawyers; and seek their expeditious release from government custody. The legal agreement has also allowed lawyers to inspect detention facilities holding migrant minors, to determine whether conditions are adequate for children and that the government is complying with the provisions of the court settlement.
While the settlement initially largely only applied to unaccompanied minors, in 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee extended the protections to migrant children detained with their parents, generally limiting the detention of such minors to 20 days. The Obama administration fought that ruling, as it sought to deter migrant families crossing the southern border illegally by detaining them while their asylum cases were decided.
In a filing on Thursday, the Justice Department told Gee, who is based in Los Angeles, that the Flores settlement should be "completely" terminated. It argued the agreement has hamstrung the executive branch from effectively setting immigration policy and incentivized illegal border crossings by migrant families and unaccompanied minors.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-seeks-to-end-flores-agreement/
Link to FILING (PDF) - https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4145012/1567/jenny-l-flores-v-edwin-meese/
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