WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Thursday that it plans to withdraw from a federal court agreement that strictly limits the conditions under which authorities can detain migrant children, and proposed new rules that it said would enable it to detain minors during their immigration proceedings.

The administration is targeting the Flores Settlement Agreement, a 1997 federal consent decree that places significant curbs on how long and in what conditions the government can detain migrant children as it seeks to dissuade migrants from crossing the U.S. southern border.

Immigrants and their advocates are expected to mount legal challenges to the administration’s effort to exit the agreement, which has been interpreted over the years to set a 20-day limit on detaining children who entered the country illegally, and also requires facilities that house migrant children to be licensed by a state authority.

Trump administration officials have repeatedly referred to the agreement’s standards as “loopholes” that attract migrants by forcing authorities to release people pending their immigration hearings.

On Thursday, the administration said in a regulatory filing it would seek to terminate the Flores settlement, and put forward regulations it said “parallel the relevant and substantive terms” of the agreement.

The new rules would ensure “that all juveniles in the government’s custody are treated with dignity, respect, and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors,” the regulation said.

The administration earlier this year asked a federal court to ease the limits mandated by the Flores agreement, but the judge overseeing the agreement, U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee, rejected those requests.

That attempt by the administration came after it instituted a “zero-tolerance” policy at the U.S. border that led to the separation of thousands of migrant children from their parents. After intense public outcry over the policy, the administration was forced to abandon it, but hundreds of children remain separated from parents who were deported without them.

The regulation proposed on Thursday would create a new federal licensing system, so authorities could hold children with their parents in detention centers that are not licensed by state authorities to hold children.

“The goal is to provide materially identical assurances about the conditions of such facilities...and in turn to allow families to remain together during their immigration proceedings,” the rule states.

The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal, followed by a 45-day period before the court settlement is terminated.</s>The Trump administration said Thursday it is preparing to circumvent limits on the government's ability to hold minors in immigration jails by withdrawing from the Flores Settlement Agreement, the federal consent decree that has shaped detention standards for underage migrants since 1997.

The maneuver is almost certain to land the administration back in court, where U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee, who oversees the agreement, has rejected attempts to extend the amount of time migrant children can be held with their parents beyond the current limit of 20 days.

But under changes proposed Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, the administration said it would issue new regulations that "satisfy the basic purpose" of the Flores settlement and ensure migrant children "are treated with dignity, respect and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors."

"Today, legal loopholes significantly hinder the Department's ability to appropriately detain and promptly remove family units that have no legal basis to remain in the country," said DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, in a statement. "This rule addresses one of the primary pull factors for illegal immigration and allows the federal government to enforce immigration laws as passed by Congress."

The proposal sets up a new immigration battle in court, and comes less than three months after the Trump administration's short-lived attempt to halt an increase in illegal migration by separating children from parents who entered unlawfully. The practice was widely condemned and forced the administration to reverse course and regroup.

Thursday's proposed changes amount to the administration's new attempt to eliminate what it views as major obstacles to effective immigration enforcement. Homeland Security officials say the limits on detaining families have effectively sent a message to would-be migrants that any parent who brings a child can expect to be quickly released from custody after entering the country illegally.

The changes proposed by the administration would allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to expand its family detention facilities in order to keep parents and children together in custody for lengthier periods. ICE currently has three such facilities, which it calls "family residential centers," with a combined capacity of about 3,500 beds.

But those facilities are almost always full, and the limitations on child detention under the Flores settlement have been a disincentive to build more. The settlement also mandates that children can only be held in licensed facilities, and the government has struggled to find states willing to do so.

While states typically license child-care facilities, none currently issues licenses to family detention centers.

According to the changes proposed Thursday, the government will ensure new detention facilities meet current standards, "as evaluated by a third-party entity engaged by ICE." The announcement does not indicate who the third party would be.

Homeland Security officials say that will ensure that those families, many of whom are Central Americans seeking asylum, appear in immigration court.

The Trump administration said Thursday's proposed changes would also "formalize" the way Health and Human Services cares for migrant children in its custody. The agency oversees a network of about 100 shelters for underage migrants who arrive without a parent or who have been separated. But in recent months allegations of mistreatment and sexual abuse at several shelters have emerged, and HHS has been sharply criticized for not keeping better track of children after they are released to family members or other approved "sponsors."

The administration's plans to lift limits on child detention is likely to trigger new legal challenges and could revive still-simmering anger over the Trump administration's separation of 2,600 migrant children from their parents under a border crackdown this spring. As of last week, more than 500 children were still in federal custody without their parents.

The 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement resulted from a class-action lawsuit over the treatment of migrant children in federal custody.

The proposed regulations would not take effect immediately. Publishing them in the Federal Register triggers a 60-day period for public comments. Then, advocates say, the Flores counsel who represents all migrant children in federal custody would have 45 days to challenge those regulations in court.

The proposal comes weeks after the Trump administration failed to obtain permission to detain children for unspecified periods of time from Judge Gee in Los Angeles.

Justice Department lawyers had asked for permission to detain children and parents together until their cases are adjudicated, a process that can take months.

In July, Gee sharply rebuked the Justice Department's request, calling it "a cynical attempt, on an ex parte basis, to shift responsibility to the judiciary for over 20 years of congressional inaction and ill-considered executive action that have led to the current stalemate."

Advocates say the Trump administration has the authority to create regulations to replace the court agreement, but they worry that officials will ignore the substantive protections in its quest to deport immigrants.

In August, the mother of a Guatemalan toddler filed a claim alleging the little girl died in May as a result of negligent medical care while detained with hundreds of other families in Texas.

"The Trump administration is seeking to expand its power to jail families for longer in worse conditions and lock up children indefinitely in unlicensed and inhumane facilities," said Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, in a news conference last month.

"We're talking about an administration that intentionally and forcibly separated children from their parents knowing the torment and trauma that that would cause and we're now allowing them to set a new standard ... of care for immigrant children."</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Thursday that it plans to withdraw from a federal court agreement that strictly limits the conditions under which authorities can detain migrant children, and proposed new rules that it said would enable it to detain minors during their immigration proceedings.

The administration is targeting the Flores Settlement Agreement, a 1997 federal consent decree that places significant curbs on how long and in what conditions the government can detain migrant children as it seeks to dissuade migrants from crossing the U.S. southern border.

Immigrants and their advocates are expected to mount legal challenges to the administration’s effort to exit the agreement, which has been interpreted over the years to set a 20-day limit on detaining children who entered the country illegally, and also requires facilities that house migrant children to be licensed by a state authority.

Trump administration officials have repeatedly referred to the agreement’s standards as “loopholes” that attract migrants by forcing authorities to release people pending their immigration hearings.

On Thursday, the administration said in a regulatory filing it would seek to terminate the Flores settlement, and put forward regulations it said “parallel the relevant and substantive terms” of the agreement.

The new rules would ensure “that all juveniles in the government’s custody are treated with dignity, respect, and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors,” the regulation said.

The administration earlier this year asked a federal court to ease the limits mandated by the Flores agreement, but the judge overseeing the agreement, U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee, rejected those requests.

That attempt by the administration came after it instituted a “zero-tolerance” policy at the U.S. border that led to the separation of thousands of migrant children from their parents. After intense public outcry over the policy, the administration was forced to abandon it, but hundreds of children remain separated from parents who were deported without them.

The regulation proposed on Thursday would create a new federal licensing system, so authorities could hold children with their parents in detention centers that are not licensed by state authorities to hold children.

“The goal is to provide materially identical assurances about the conditions of such facilities...and in turn to allow families to remain together during their immigration proceedings,” the rule states.

The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal, followed by a 45-day period before the court settlement is terminated.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Thursday that it plans to withdraw from a federal court agreement that strictly limits the conditions under which authorities can detain migrant children, and proposed new rules that it said would enable it to detain minors during their immigration proceedings.

The administration is targeting the Flores Settlement Agreement, a 1997 federal consent decree that places significant curbs on how long and in what conditions the government can detain migrant children as it seeks to dissuade migrants from crossing the U.S. southern border.

Immigrants and their advocates are expected to mount legal challenges to the administration’s effort to exit the agreement, which has been interpreted over the years to set a 20-day limit on detaining children who entered the country illegally, and also requires facilities that house migrant children to be licensed by a state authority.

Trump administration officials have repeatedly referred to the agreement’s standards as “loopholes” that attract migrants by forcing authorities to release people pending their immigration hearings.

On Thursday, the administration said in a regulatory filing it would seek to terminate the Flores settlement, and put forward regulations it said “parallel the relevant and substantive terms” of the agreement.

The new rules would ensure “that all juveniles in the government’s custody are treated with dignity, respect, and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors,” the regulation said.

The administration earlier this year asked a federal court to ease the limits mandated by the Flores agreement, but the judge overseeing the agreement, U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee, rejected those requests.

That attempt by the administration came after it instituted a “zero-tolerance” policy at the U.S. border that led to the separation of thousands of migrant children from their parents. After intense public outcry over the policy, the administration was forced to abandon it, but hundreds of children remain separated from parents who were deported without them.

The regulation proposed on Thursday would create a new federal licensing system, so authorities could hold children with their parents in detention centers that are not licensed by state authorities to hold children.

“The goal is to provide materially identical assurances about the conditions of such facilities...and in turn to allow families to remain together during their immigration proceedings,” the rule states.

The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal, followed by a 45-day period before the court settlement is terminated.</s>The Trump administration is seeking to allow US authorities to keep immigrant children in detention longer than the current 20-day limit, a move critics denounced as "sickening" and "cruel".

The US government said on Thursday it will abandon a longstanding federal court agreement that limits how long immigrant children can be kept locked up.

"Today, legal loopholes significantly hinder the ... ability to appropriately detain and promptly remove family units that have no legal basis to remain in the country," Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said.

The announcement also proposed new rules that would allow US authorities to detain minors during their immigration proceedings.

The regulations aim to end the Flores settlement, a 1997 court ruling that dictates the length of time and under what conditions immigrant children may be detained.

The agreement requires the government to place children with a close relative or family friend "without unnecessary delay", instead of detaining them, or to keep children already in custody in the "least restrictive conditions" possible.

The Flores agreement became an issue earlier this year when the Trump administration adopted a "zero-tolerance policy" of prosecuting anyone caught crossing illegally.

More than 2,900 children were separated from their parents, prompting international outrage and leading a federal judge to order reunification of the families in June.

More than 500 children were still separated from their parents in late August, according to reports.

The Trump administration plans to publish new regulations in the Federal Register on Friday, which will replace the Flores settlement.

The proposed regulations will also allow the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency to detain children in facilities not licensed by state authorities to hold minors, a publicly available copy said.

Representative Paul Ryan, the highest ranking Republican in the US House of Representatives, said he "just heard about it [proposed regulations] this morning".

"My position's been really clear about this: we should not be separating people at the border. I believe that the administration also agrees," Ryan said.

The move angered immigrant rights activists and is likely to trigger another round of court battles.

"It is sickening to see the United States government looking for ways to jail more children for longer," said Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants' Rights Project.

"And it's yet another example of the Trump administration's hostility toward immigrants resulting in a policy incompatible with the most basic human values."

Jadwat accused the administration of "trying to expand the trauma it is inflicting on these children in order to deter other people from coming to the country".

Rachel Prandini, staff attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, told The Associated Press the erosion of Flores' protections would subject children to worsening conditions.

"The Trump administration's decision to exacerbate the suffering of kids - by imposing the cruel policy of family separation earlier this summer and now with this rule change to vastly expand detention of children - is horrifying," she said.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Thursday that it plans to withdraw from a federal court agreement that strictly limits the conditions under which authorities can detain migrant children, and proposed new rules that it said would enable it to detain minors during their immigration proceedings.

The administration is targeting the Flores Settlement Agreement, a 1997 federal consent decree that places significant curbs on how long and in what conditions the government can detain migrant children as it seeks to dissuade migrants from crossing the U.S. southern border.

Immigrants and their advocates are expected to mount legal challenges to the administration’s effort to exit the agreement, which has been interpreted over the years to set a 20-day limit on detaining children who entered the country illegally, and also requires facilities that house migrant children to be licensed by a state authority.

Trump administration officials have repeatedly referred to the agreement’s standards as “loopholes” that attract migrants by forcing authorities to release people pending their immigration hearings.

On Thursday, the administration said in a regulatory filing it would seek to terminate the Flores settlement, and put forward regulations it said “parallel the relevant and substantive terms” of the agreement.

The new rules would ensure “that all juveniles in the government’s custody are treated with dignity, respect, and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors,” the regulation said.

The administration earlier this year asked a federal court to ease the limits mandated by the Flores agreement, but the judge overseeing the agreement, U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee, rejected those requests.

That attempt by the administration came after it instituted a “zero-tolerance” policy at the U.S. border that led to the separation of thousands of migrant children from their parents. After intense public outcry over the policy, the administration was forced to abandon it, but hundreds of children remain separated from parents who were deported without them.

The regulation proposed on Thursday would create a new federal licensing system, so authorities could hold children with their parents in detention centers that are not licensed by state authorities to hold children.

“The goal is to provide materially identical assurances about the conditions of such facilities...and in turn to allow families to remain together during their immigration proceedings,” the rule states.

The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal, followed by a 45-day period before the court settlement is terminated.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Thursday that it plans to withdraw from a federal court agreement that strictly limits the conditions under which authorities can detain migrant children, and proposed new rules that it said would enable it to detain minors during their immigration proceedings.

The administration is targeting the Flores Settlement Agreement, a 1997 federal consent decree that places significant curbs on how long and in what conditions the government can detain migrant children as it seeks to dissuade migrants from crossing the U.S. southern border.

Immigrants and their advocates are expected to mount legal challenges to the administration’s effort to exit the agreement, which has been interpreted over the years to set a 20-day limit on detaining children who entered the country illegally, and also requires facilities that house migrant children to be licensed by a state authority.

Trump administration officials have repeatedly referred to the agreement’s standards as “loopholes” that attract migrants by forcing authorities to release people pending their immigration hearings.

On Thursday, the administration said in a regulatory filing it would seek to terminate the Flores settlement, and put forward regulations it said “parallel the relevant and substantive terms” of the agreement.

The new rules would ensure “that all juveniles in the government’s custody are treated with dignity, respect, and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors,” the regulation said.

The administration earlier this year asked a federal court to ease the limits mandated by the Flores agreement, but the judge overseeing the agreement, U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee, rejected those requests.

That attempt by the administration came after it instituted a “zero-tolerance” policy at the U.S. border that led to the separation of thousands of migrant children from their parents. After intense public outcry over the policy, the administration was forced to abandon it, but hundreds of children remain separated from parents who were deported without them.

The regulation proposed on Thursday would create a new federal licensing system, so authorities could hold children with their parents in detention centers that are not licensed by state authorities to hold children.

“The goal is to provide materially identical assurances about the conditions of such facilities...and in turn to allow families to remain together during their immigration proceedings,” the rule states.

The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal, followed by a 45-day period before the court settlement is terminated.</s>The Trump administration said Thursday it is preparing to circumvent limits on the government’s ability to hold minors in immigration jails by withdrawing from the Flores Settlement Agreement, the federal consent decree that has shaped detention standards for underage migrants since 1997.

The maneuver is almost certain to land the administration back in court, where U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee, who oversees the agreement, has rejected attempts to extend the amount of time migrant children can be held with their parents beyond the current limit of 20 days.

But under changes proposed Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, the administration said it would issue new regulations that “satisfy the basic purpose” of the Flores settlement and ensure migrant children “are treated with dignity, respect and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors.”

“Today, legal loopholes significantly hinder the Department’s ability to appropriately detain and promptly remove family units that have no legal basis to remain in the country,” said DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, in a statement. “This rule addresses one of the primary pull factors for illegal immigration and allows the federal government to enforce immigration laws as passed by Congress.”

The proposal sets up a new immigration battle in court, and comes less than three months after the Trump administration’s short-lived attempt to halt an increase in illegal migration by separating children from parents who entered unlawfully. The practice was widely condemned and forced the administration to reverse course and regroup.

[‘I want to die’: Was a 5-year-old drugged after being separated from his dad at the border?]

Thursday’s proposed changes amount to the administration’s new attempt to eliminate what it views as major obstacles to effective immigration enforcement. Homeland Security officials say the limits on detaining families have effectively sent a message to would-be migrants that any parent who brings a child can expect to be quickly released from custody after entering the country illegally.

The changes proposed by the administration would allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to expand its family detention facilities in order to keep parents and children together in custody for lengthier periods. ICE currently has three such facilities, which it calls “family residential centers,” with a combined capacity of about 3,500 beds.

But those facilities are almost always full, and the limitations on child detention under the Flores settlement have been a disincentive to build more. The settlement also mandates that children can only be held in licensed facilities, and the government has struggled to find states willing to do so.

While states typically license child-care facilities, none currently issues licenses to family detention centers.

According to the changes proposed Thursday, the government will ensure new detention facilities meet current standards, “as evaluated by a third-party entity engaged by ICE.” The announcement does not indicate who the third party would be.

Homeland Security officials say that will ensure that those families, many of whom are Central Americans seeking asylum, appear in immigration court.

The Trump administration said Thursday’s proposed changes would also “formalize” the way Health and Human Services cares for migrant children in its custody. The agency oversees a network of about 100 shelters for underage migrants who arrive without a parent or who have been separated. But in recent months allegations of mistreatment and sexual abuse at several shelters have emerged, and HHS has been sharply criticized for not keeping better track of children after they are released to family members or other approved “sponsors.”

The administration's plans to lift limits on child detention is likely to trigger new legal challenges and could revive still-simmering anger over the Trump administration’s separation of 2,600 migrant children from their parents under a border crackdown this spring. As of last week, more than 500 children were still in federal custody without their parents.

[Still separated: Nearly 500 migrant children taken from their parents remain in U.S. custody]

The 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement resulted from a class-action lawsuit over the treatment of migrant children in federal custody.

The proposed regulations would not take effect immediately. Publishing them in the Federal Register triggers a 60-day period for public comments. Then, advocates say, the Flores counsel who represents all migrant children in federal custody would have 45 days to challenge those regulations in court.

The proposal comes weeks after the Trump administration failed to obtain permission to detain children for unspecified periods of time from Judge Gee in Los Angeles.

Justice Department lawyers had asked for permission to detain children and parents together until their cases are adjudicated, a process that can take months.

In July, Gee sharply rebuked the Justice Department's request, calling it “a cynical attempt, on an ex parte basis, to shift responsibility to the judiciary for over 20 years of congressional inaction and ill-considered executive action that have led to the current stalemate.”

Advocates say the Trump administration has the authority to create regulations to replace the court agreement, but they worry that officials will ignore the substantive protections in its quest to deport immigrants.

In August, the mother of a Guatemalan toddler filed a claim alleging the little girl died in May as a result of negligent medical care while detained with hundreds of other families in Texas.

“The Trump administration is seeking to expand its power to jail families for longer in worse conditions and lock up children indefinitely in unlicensed and inhumane facilities,” said Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, in a news conference last month.

“We're talking about an administration that intentionally and forcibly separated children from their parents knowing the torment and trauma that would cause and we're now allowing them to set a new standard ... of care for immigrant children.”</s>The Trump administration said Thursday it is preparing to circumvent limits on the government's ability to hold minors in immigration jails by withdrawing from the Flores Settlement Agreement, the federal consent decree that has shaped detention standards for underage migrants since 1997.

The maneuver is almost certain to land the administration back in court, where U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee, who oversees the agreement, has rejected attempts to extend the amount of time migrant children can be held with their parents beyond the current limit of 20 days.

But under changes proposed Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, the administration said it would issue new regulations that "satisfy the basic purpose" of the Flores settlement and ensure migrant children "are treated with dignity, respect and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors."

"Today, legal loopholes significantly hinder the Department's ability to appropriately detain and promptly remove family units that have no legal basis to remain in the country," said DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, in a statement. "This rule addresses one of the primary pull factors for illegal immigration and allows the federal government to enforce immigration laws as passed by Congress."

The proposal sets up a new immigration battle in court, and comes less than three months after the Trump administration's short-lived attempt to halt an increase in illegal migration by separating children from parents who entered unlawfully. The practice was widely condemned and forced the administration to reverse course and regroup.

Thursday's proposed changes amount to the administration's new attempt to eliminate what it views as major obstacles to effective immigration enforcement. Homeland Security officials say the limits on detaining families have effectively sent a message to would-be migrants that any parent who brings a child can expect to be quickly released from custody after entering the country illegally.

The changes proposed by the administration would allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to expand its family detention facilities in order to keep parents and children together in custody for lengthier periods. ICE currently has three such facilities, which it calls "family residential centers," with a combined capacity of about 3,500 beds.

But those facilities are almost always full, and the limitations on child detention under the Flores settlement have been a disincentive to build more. The settlement also mandates that children can only be held in licensed facilities, and the government has struggled to find states willing to do so.

While states typically license child-care facilities, none currently issues licenses to family detention centers.

According to the changes proposed Thursday, the government will ensure new detention facilities meet current standards, "as evaluated by a third-party entity engaged by ICE." The announcement does not indicate who the third party would be.

Homeland Security officials say that will ensure that those families, many of whom are Central Americans seeking asylum, appear in immigration court.

The Trump administration said Thursday's proposed changes would also "formalize" the way Health and Human Services cares for migrant children in its custody. The agency oversees a network of about 100 shelters for underage migrants who arrive without a parent or who have been separated. But in recent months allegations of mistreatment and sexual abuse at several shelters have emerged, and HHS has been sharply criticized for not keeping better track of children after they are released to family members or other approved "sponsors."

The administration's plans to lift limits on child detention is likely to trigger new legal challenges and could revive still-simmering anger over the Trump administration's separation of 2,600 migrant children from their parents under a border crackdown this spring. As of last week, more than 500 children were still in federal custody without their parents.

The 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement resulted from a class-action lawsuit over the treatment of migrant children in federal custody.

The proposed regulations would not take effect immediately. Publishing them in the Federal Register triggers a 60-day period for public comments. Then, advocates say, the Flores counsel who represents all migrant children in federal custody would have 45 days to challenge those regulations in court.

The proposal comes weeks after the Trump administration failed to obtain permission to detain children for unspecified periods of time from Judge Gee in Los Angeles.

Justice Department lawyers had asked for permission to detain children and parents together until their cases are adjudicated, a process that can take months.

In July, Gee sharply rebuked the Justice Department's request, calling it "a cynical attempt, on an ex parte basis, to shift responsibility to the judiciary for over 20 years of congressional inaction and ill-considered executive action that have led to the current stalemate."

Advocates say the Trump administration has the authority to create regulations to replace the court agreement, but they worry that officials will ignore the substantive protections in its quest to deport immigrants.

In August, the mother of a Guatemalan toddler filed a claim alleging the little girl died in May as a result of negligent medical care while detained with hundreds of other families in Texas.

"The Trump administration is seeking to expand its power to jail families for longer in worse conditions and lock up children indefinitely in unlicensed and inhumane facilities," said Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, in a news conference last month.

"We're talking about an administration that intentionally and forcibly separated children from their parents knowing the torment and trauma that that would cause and we're now allowing them to set a new standard ... of care for immigrant children."</s>The Trump administration proposed a new rule on Thursday that would allow it to get around restrictions that prevent immigrant children from being held in federal detention for more than 20 days.

The proposal would circumvent rules established by a federal court settlement – known as the Flores settlement – that limited the detention of children and families for more than 20 days.

The proposed change is likely to face legal challenges from immigrant rights activists who oppose detaining children.

U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee has already denied a request by the Trump administration earlier this year to allow the government to detain families for longer periods than allowed under Flores.

The Flores settlement played a significant role in the Trump administration's now-defunct policy of separating children from parents at the Southern U.S. border.

The settlement requires that migrant children be held in the 'least restrictive' environment possible and precludes their detainment for more than 20 days – even if they are with their parents.

When the Trump administration separated immigrant children from their parents earlier this year, officials pointed to the settlement, saying they had to separate them because it would violate Flores to detain families together.

Administration officials also said that their actions under the 'zero tolerance' immigration policy were a deterrent to parents who would bring their children across the border to avoid being detained.

In other words, the administration sought to end a practice under the Obama administration of 'catch and release,' in which families were typically allowed parole after illegal border crossings.

'Today, legal loopholes significantly hinder the department's ability to appropriately detain and promptly remove family units that have no legal basis to remain in the country,' said the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristjen Nielsen. 'This rule addresses one of the primary pull factors for illegal immigration and allows the federal government to enforce immigration laws as passed by Congress.'

The proposed changes would allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to establish more family detention facilities where immigrant parents and children could be held together.

The U.S. currently has three family detention centers, which have a total capacity of roughly 3,500 beds.

Homeland Security officials are seeking 12,000 additional beds to house families, in addition to enough space to hold 20,000 minors who entered the country by themselves.

The proposed rule change would allow the government to hold immigrants indefinitely while their cases litigated in immigration court.

Officials said the proposed rule changes would 'satisfy the purpose' of Flores while also making certain that immigrant children 'are treated with dignity, respect and concern for their particular vulnerability as minors.'

Under the administration’s zero-tolerance policy, more than 2,600 children were separated from their parents.

Broad public outrage and widespread protests eventually forced Donald Trump to issue an executive order on June 20 ending the practice. Nearly 500 children remain separated from their parents and in government custody.
The Trump administration proposes regulatory changes which would allow the children of illegal immigrants to be imprisoned for more than 20 days.