Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Wrestling Legend Hulk Hogan Dies at 71, TMZ Reports

4 hours ago

TikTok Will Go Dark in US Without Chinese Approval of Sale Deal, Lutnick Says

5 hours ago

California Releases Teacher Data. It Shows Big Rise in Hispanic Teachers

5 hours ago

Biting a Bat and 5 Other Wild Moments From Ozzy Osbourne’s Life

6 hours ago

US Olympic Officials Bar Transgender Women From Women’s Competitions

1 day ago

Fresno County Authorities Seek Help Locating Missing Woman and Infant

2 days ago
Judge Blocks Trump Rules for Detained Migrant Kids
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
September 28, 2019

Share

LOS ANGELES — A U.S. judge on Friday blocked new Trump administration rules that would enable the government to keep immigrant children in detention facilities with their parents indefinitely.

“Defendants willingly negotiated and bound themselves to these standards for all minors in its custody, and no final regulations or changed circumstances yet merit termination of the Flores agreement.”  U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee

U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles said the rules conflict with a 1997 settlement agreement that requires the government to release immigrant children caught on the border as quickly as possible to relatives in the U.S. and says they can only be held in facilities licensed by a state.

Gee said the Flores agreement — named for a teenage plaintiff — will remain in place and govern the conditions for all immigrant children in U.S. custody, including those with their parents.

“The agreement has been necessary, relevant, and critical to the public interest in maintaining standards for the detention and release of minors arriving at the United States’ borders,” the judge wrote in her decision.

“Defendants willingly negotiated and bound themselves to these standards for all minors in its custody, and no final regulations or changed circumstances yet merit termination of the Flores agreement.”

The Trump administration sought to end the agreement and issued the new rules with the hope of detaining immigrant children in facilities with their parents. The move came as part of a broader crackdown on asylum seekers arriving on the Southwest border, many of them families with children from Central America.

The Flores agreement allows for the settlement to be phased out when rules are issued for the custody of immigrant children that are consistent with its terms.

The Administration Is Disappointed With the Ruling

Attorneys who represent detained immigrant children welcomed Gee’s position, which she initially conveyed to them in a draft ruling during a court hearing Friday. They said they wouldn’t let the administration use young immigrants to try to deter migrants fleeing desperate conditions from seeking asylum in the United States.

“We will continue vigorously to defend the rights of detained immigrant children,” Neha Desai, director of immigration at the National Center for Youth Law, told reporters.

The Department of Justice said the administration is disappointed with the ruling because it did what was required to implement the new rules.

On Friday night, the White House issued a statement criticizing the judge’s ruling.

“For two and a half years, this Administration has worked to restore faithful enforcement of the laws enacted by Congress, while activist judges have imposed their own vision in the place of those duly enacted laws,” the statement said. “The Flores 20-day Loophole violates Congressional removal and detention mandates, creating a new system out of judicial whole cloth. This destructive end-run around the detention and removal system Congress created must end.”

Attorneys for both sides said they would be willing to meet and discuss whether some aspects of the rules aren’t subject to the settlement. Gee gave them until Oct. 4 to do so.

More than 400,000 immigrants traveling in family groups with children have been stopped on the Mexico border in the past year.

In its crackdown, the Trump administration has had migrants await immigration court hearings in Mexico and required those who cross through a third country to seek refuge there before applying for asylum in the U.S.

Immigrant advocates have decried the changes, which threaten asylum for many people fleeing violence in their countries.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Israel and US Recall Teams From Gaza Truce Talks, US Says Hamas Not Showing Good Faith

DON'T MISS

How Long Will Fresno’s Resort-Like Summer Weather Continue?

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Judge Reduces Sentence for Teen Convicted in Killing Orosi Teacher

DON'T MISS

Thai Fighter Jet Bombs Cambodian Targets as Border Battle Escalates

DON'T MISS

West Coast Rapper YG to Perform at 2025 Big Fresno Fair

DON'T MISS

California Cannot Require Background Checks to Buy Ammunition, US Appeals Court Rules

DON'T MISS

Wrestling Legend Hulk Hogan Dies at 71, TMZ Reports

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Cesar Fernandez

DON'T MISS

TikTok Will Go Dark in US Without Chinese Approval of Sale Deal, Lutnick Says

DON'T MISS

Michael Whatley, RNC Chair, to Run for Senate in North Carolina

UP NEXT

Thai Fighter Jet Bombs Cambodian Targets as Border Battle Escalates

UP NEXT

Michael Whatley, RNC Chair, to Run for Senate in North Carolina

UP NEXT

Afghans Who Aided US Face Taliban Reprisal as Resettlement Programs Slashed

UP NEXT

Video-Sharing App Vine Is Returning ‘in AI Form’, Musk Says

UP NEXT

CBS News Taps Tanya Simon as New Boss of ’60 Minutes’ After Trump Lawsuit

UP NEXT

Justice Department to Assess Claims of ‘Alleged Weaponization’ of US Intelligence Community

UP NEXT

White House Not Denying That Trump’s Name Appears in Epstein Files, Official Says

UP NEXT

White House Taps Mining Expert to Head National Security Office, Sources Say

UP NEXT

Protesters in Tel Aviv Call for Israel to End Hunger and Gaza War

UP NEXT

White House Says WSJ Report on Trump Being Told Name in Epstein Files “Fake News”

Thai Fighter Jet Bombs Cambodian Targets as Border Battle Escalates

1 hour ago

West Coast Rapper YG to Perform at 2025 Big Fresno Fair

2 hours ago

California Cannot Require Background Checks to Buy Ammunition, US Appeals Court Rules

3 hours ago

Wrestling Legend Hulk Hogan Dies at 71, TMZ Reports

4 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Cesar Fernandez

4 hours ago

TikTok Will Go Dark in US Without Chinese Approval of Sale Deal, Lutnick Says

5 hours ago

Michael Whatley, RNC Chair, to Run for Senate in North Carolina

5 hours ago

Meme Stock Surge Underlines Market Froth, Mostly Centred on Retail Investors

5 hours ago

Afghans Who Aided US Face Taliban Reprisal as Resettlement Programs Slashed

5 hours ago

Video-Sharing App Vine Is Returning ‘in AI Form’, Musk Says

5 hours ago

Israel and US Recall Teams From Gaza Truce Talks, US Says Hamas Not Showing Good Faith

JERUSALEM/CAIRO – Israel and the United States recalled their delegations from Gaza ceasefire talks for consultations on Thursday, wit...

1 minute ago

An explosion in Gaza is seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 24, 2025. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)
1 minute ago

Israel and US Recall Teams From Gaza Truce Talks, US Says Hamas Not Showing Good Faith

24 minutes ago

How Long Will Fresno’s Resort-Like Summer Weather Continue?

1 hour ago

Tulare County Judge Reduces Sentence for Teen Convicted in Killing Orosi Teacher

Firefighters work to extinguish fire at a convenience store at a gas station, amid the clashes between Thailand and Cambodia, in Kantharalak district, Sisaket province, Thailand, July 24, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video. TPBS/Handout via REUTERS
1 hour ago

Thai Fighter Jet Bombs Cambodian Targets as Border Battle Escalates

West Coast rapper YG will perform at the 2025 Big Fresno Fair on Oct. 2 as part of the Table Mountain Concert Series. (GV Wire Composite/Paul Marshall)
2 hours ago

West Coast Rapper YG to Perform at 2025 Big Fresno Fair

AR-15 style rifles are displayed for sale at Firearms Unknown, a gun store in Oceanside, California, U.S., April 12, 2021. (Reuters File)
3 hours ago

California Cannot Require Background Checks to Buy Ammunition, US Appeals Court Rules

Hulk Hogan
4 hours ago

Wrestling Legend Hulk Hogan Dies at 71, TMZ Reports

Cesar Fernandez is Valley Crime Stoppers' Most Wanted Person of the Day for July 24, 2025. (Valley Crimes Stoppers)
4 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Cesar Fernandez

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend