A federal judge has denied the Trump administration's request to end a policy protecting immigrant children in federal custody.

A judge is considering a Trump administration request to end a policy protecting immigrant children in federal custody.

The Trump administration is seeking to end an immigration policy cornerstone that since the 1990s has offered protections to child migrants in federal custody, a move that will be challenged by advocates.

A judge has ruled that migrant children in makeshift camps along the U.S.-Mexico border waiting to be processed by Border Patrol are in the agency’s custody.

A federal judge sharply questions the Biden administration’s position that it bears no responsibility for housing and feeding migrant children who are waiting for agents in makeshift camps.

About 8,800 unaccompanied children have been quickly expelled from the United States along the Mexico border under a pandemic-related measure that effectively ended asylum. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)SAN FRANCISCO – About 8,800 unaccompanied children have been quickly expelled from the United States along the Mexico border under a pandemic-related measure that effectively ended asylum, authorities said Friday. The administration “immediately” expelled most children and families to Mexico but more than 2,200 unaccompanied children and 600 people who came in families were held until flights could be arranged to return home, Ortiz said. She ordered border agencies to stop placing children in hotels by Tuesday. Before the pandemic, unaccompanied children were sent to state-licensed shelters operated by the Department of Health and Human Services and often released to family members while seeking asylum.

U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee’s order applies to children held for more than 20 days at three family detention centers in Texas and Pennsylvania operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The family detention centers “are ‘on fire’ and there is no more time for half measures," she wrote. Advocates contend that ICE should release all families from detention especially as the coronavirus has spread rapidly through immigration detention. In court filings revealed Thursday, ICE said 11 children and parents have tested positive for COVID-19 at the family detention center in Karnes City, Texas. The agency says it has released at least 900 people considered to have heightened medical risk and reduced the populations at its three family detention centers.

The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley is one of two family immigrant detention centers in Texas. Laura Skelding for The Texas TribuneAs the coronavirus spreads in detention centers, a federal judge ordered the release of migrant children held for more than 20 days at three family detention centers in Texas and Pennsylvania, the Associated Press reported Friday. More than 2,500 detainees have tested positive for COVID-19 while in ICE custody, the AP reported. ICE has said it has released more than 900 detainees with increased medical risks and de-densified the detainee populations at the three family detention centers in Texas and Pennsylvania. But according to the agency in May, most people in family detention are considered flight risks because of pending deportation orders or cases under review.