Houston (AP) – A judge in Houston has criticized the Trump administration’s handling of detained immigrant children and families, ordering it to give the court detailed information about efforts to quickly release them in the wake of the coronavirus. On Friday, the judge ordered the U.S. government to better explain why it hasn’t released some of the approximately 350 parents and children in three family detention centers; one in Pennsylvania and two in Texas. Advocates allege that parents in those centers were asked to sign forms that would have allowed their children to be released to sponsors while the parents remained in custody. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the forms are part of a “routine parole review consistent with the law.”
