The Trump administration proposed a new rule Thursday that will let the government detain undocumented immigrant children and their parents indefinitely.
According to a document submitted by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, the new rule would "terminate" the Flores settlement, a 1997 agreement establishing that migrant children can't be detained longer than 20 days. The new regulation would instead detain families together for as long as their immigration cases play out.
The document goes on to say the new rule would still ensure "all juveniles in the government's custody are treated with dignity, respect, and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors."
The proposed rule is set to be published in the Federal Register on Friday, and it will go into effect 60 days after that.
A federal judge rejected a similar attempt to modify Flores back in July, saying the request was "wholly without merit."
Additional reporting from Newsy affiliate CNN.
