Judge blocks Trump administration's fix for Flores catch-and-release rule driving border crisis

The following is an excerpt from Blaze Media’s daily Capitol Hill Brief email newsletter:

On Friday, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s new policy on family detention, ruling in favor of the decades-old rule it was meant to get rid of.

Last month, the Trump administration announced that it had put in place new rules to replace the Flores settlement, the catch-and-release requirements of which have been a key driving factor behind the ongoing crisis at the southern border.

On Friday, however, Judge Dolly Gee said that the administration’s approach didn’t meet the standards for care of alien minors. “This regulation is inconsistent with one of the primary goals of the Flores Agreement, which is to instate a general policy favoring release and expeditiously place minors ‘in the least restrictive setting appropriate to the minor’s age and special needs,’” the judge wrote.

“The Department of Justice is disappointed that the court is continuing to impose the outdated Flores Agreement even after the government has done exactly what the Agreement required: issue a comprehensive rule that will protect vulnerable children, maintain family unity, and ensure due process for those awaiting adjudication of their immigration claims,” a DOJ spokesperson told Blaze Media. “The Trump Administration will continue to work to restore integrity to our immigration system and ensure the proper functioning of the duly enacted immigration laws.”

The case — like so many others involving the president’s executive branch power — is expected to eventually end up at the Supreme Court.

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