After a Los Angeles federal judge rejected the Trump administration’s bid to end a 28-year-old edict governing how immigrant children are detained, attorneys stressed Tuesday that the government remains legally obligated to promptly process, transfer and release such children as quickly as possible.

The so-called “Flores settlement agreement” — overseen by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles federal court — remains one of the only legal tools to prevent the prolonged incarceration of immigrant children detained at U.S. border crossings.

Despite the required protections, attorneys for detained children have presented evidence they say shows migrant children are being subjected to “prolonged detention in punitive, prison-like conditions.” Many are confined for weeks or even months

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