Judge Orders DHS to ‘Expeditiously’ Provide ‘Safe and Sanitary’ Housing for Illegal Immigrant Children

Minors detained in open-air facilities must be given certain protections by DHS, the judge ruled.

Federal law enforcement agents and officers keep watch as immigrants line up (R) to be transported from a makeshift camp between border walls between the U.S. and Mexico in San Diego, California, on May 13, 2023. Mario Tama/Getty Images

A federal judge has ordered U.S. border officials to “expeditiously” relocate illegal immigrant children from “inhumane” makeshift open-air sites along the southern border in California.

The order issued on Wednesday directs the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to treat the migrant children who entered the United States unlawfully with the same protections offered under the longstanding Flores Settlement Agreement.