Judge Urged To Drop Part of 27-Year-Old Migrant Child Care Order

A Los Angeles federal judge weighing whether to end or modify part of a 27-year-old settlement governing the treatment of migrant children in government custody was sympathetic to concerns that a rule to partially replace it doesn’t do enough to establish independent oversight.

The long-standing Flores Settlement Agreement, which governs how detained migrant children are treated and released, requires the government to place these children in state licensed programs. Texas, Florida, and South Carolina no longer license Office of Refugee Resettlement-funded residential childcare facilities, making the settlement’s requirements “unworkable,” attorneys representing the Department of Health and Human Services argued on ...