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The Trump administration on Monday lost a bid to persuade a federal court to allow long-term detention of migrant families, a significant legal setback to the president’s immigration agenda. In a ruling that countered nearly every argument posed by the Justice Department, Judge Dolly M. Gee of the Federal District Court in Los Angeles held that there was no basis to amend a longstanding consent decree that requires children to be released to licensed care programs within 20 days. The government said that long-term confinement was the only way to avoid separating families when parents were detained on criminal charges. (Jordan and Fernandez, 7/9)

U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee issued an order lambasting the Justice Department for its request to modify a 1997 legal settlement that set rules for how the government can deal with immigrant children in its custody. Calling President Trump’s executive order on immigrants “ill-considered,” the judge accused the administration of attempting to shift blame to the courts for a crisis of Congress’ and the president’s making. Gee’s order came as Justice Department attorneys told a federal judge in San Diego they would miss Tuesday’s deadline for authorities to reunite parents and children younger than 5 who were forcibly separated at the border. (Kim and Davis, 7/9)

"Defendants seek to light a match to the Flores Agreement and ask this Court to upend the parties’ agreement by judicial fiat," wrote Gee, an appointee of President Barack Obama. "It is apparent that Defendants’ Application is a cynical attempt ... to shift responsibility to the Judiciary for over 20 years of Congressional inaction and ill-considered Executive action that have led to the current stalemate." (Gerstein, 7/9)

The immigration detention center at Tornillo used to hold undocumented immigrant children will remain open for at least 30 more days, a government spokesperson confirmed Monday. ...It houses undocumented minors who came to the United States alone or were separated from family members or guardians by U.S. immigration officials under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. (Aguilar, 7/9)