Judge Claims Obama Administration Violates Rules, Orders Detained Immigrant Children Released

Jul 25, 2015 11:31 PM EDT

Two female detainees sleep in a holding cell, as the children are separated by age group and gender, as hundreds of mostly Central American immigrant children are being processed and held at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Nogales Placement Center on June 18, 2014, in Nogales, Arizona. Brownsville, Texas, and Nogales, have been central to processing the more than 47,000 unaccompanied children who have entered the country illegally since Oct. 1. (Photo by Ross D. Franklin-Pool/Getty Images)

Judge Dolly M. Gee of Federal District Court for the Central District of California has ordered the release of immigrant children and their families detained in the US for illegally crossing the border.

The judge claimed that the administration of President Barack Obama violated the long standing court settlement for facilities housing kids.

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Judge Gee rejected the government's arguments on why the children and their families should remained detained in Texas for crossing the border illegally.

According to the judge in a decision penned on Friday, two jail facilities that recently opened in Texas to handle illegal border crossers do not conform with the minimum legal requirements stipulated in the 1997 settlement for children's facilities.

The decision also cited the alleged widespread deplorable conditions that children had to experience when they were first arrested and booked in Border Patrol stations.

"The authorities wholly failed to ensure safe and sanitary conditions required for kids even in cells considered as temporary," the judge stressed.

Analysts said the 25-page decision released by Judge Gee will deliver a significant legal blow to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson's detention policies.

Judge Gee described the the Obama administration as dubious and unpersuasive and further stated that government officials continue to ignore the terms of the 1997 settlement.

The judge said that based on the 1997 settlement, minors should be placed in facilities that are not secured in a way that it looks like a prison. The settlement also requires that the facilities are licensed to take care of children.

Judge Gee discovered that the family detention centers located in the border in Texas breached the said provisions.

Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Marsha Catron said the department is disappointed with the decision of the court and is reviewing it together with the Department of Justice.

A human rights lawyer claims that the decision of Judge Gee spells the beginning of the end for the government's policy on immigrant family and children.

TagsUnited States of America, Immigrant Children, Illegal Border Crossers