A federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled that the Obama administration's detention of illegal immigrant children and their mothers violates a nearly 20 year-old court settlement.
Judge Dolly Gee ordered the Department of Homeland Security to free the families from three holding facilities as soon as possible.
In her ruling, handed down late Friday, Gee wrote that the children and their mothers were being held in "widespread deplorable conditions" and that authorities had failed to place the youngsters in "safe and sanitary" facilities, as required by the 1997 settlement.
Gee strongly criticized the government for not complying with what she said are the "unambiguous" terms of the 1997 settlement, and ruled that the settlement applies to both unaccompanied children and those arrived with their mothers.
The judge has given Homeland Security until August 3 to come up with a plan for the detainees. She also gave the Justice Department 90 days to answer why it should not have to abide by her ruling.