Government attorneys have told a judge that a decades-old policy on protections for immigrant children is inhibiting the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. On Friday, the administration asked U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee to dissolve the policy, which limits how long children can be held and requires safe conditions. Gee, who oversees the Flores agreement, expressed skepticism. Advocates for immigrant children want the protections to remain, citing poor conditions in detention centers. The Flores agreement, established in 1997, governs the conditions for all immigrant children in U.S. custody. The Biden administration successfully pushed to partially end the agreement last year.

For 27 years, federal courts have held special oversight over custody conditions for child migrants. The Biden administration wants a judge to partially lift those powers. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee is considering the request at a hearing in Los Angeles on Friday, barely a week before new safeguards take effect. The administration says such safeguards meet, or even exceed, standards set forth in a landmark settlement named for Jenny Flores, a child immigrant from El Salvador. Flores is a policy cornerstone that forced the U.S. to quickly release children to family in the U.S. and setting custody standards at licensed shelters.