The Biden administration is asking a federal judge to partially terminate a decades old

agreement that said standards of care for unaccompanied migrant children held in U.S. custody.

White House correspondent Laura Barone Lopez joins us now to explain

what this means. So Laura, if the Biden administration's request is granted by the

court, what does that mean? What does that do? This would essentially end one part of the decades old Flores settlement agreement.

And that Flores settlement agreement was first established in 1997, and the part that

they're looking to terminate is the part that applies to the Health and Human Services Department.

The Health and Human Services Department is responsible for caring for these unaccompanied

migrant children shortly after their arrival.

They oversee the facilities where they're housed across the southern border.

And this agreement mandated standards of care that we're talking about basic safety for these migrant children, adequate food,

drinking water, medical care, temperature control, sanitary living conditions,

and if a judge agrees with the Justice Department, then this part of that decades-old

settlement agreement would be terminated.

And so why is the administration doing this now?

HHS recently finalized a new regulation that they say strengthens protections across the board

for these unaccompanied migrant children and they say that it goes well beyond the 1997 Flores Agreement and in its

court filing the Justice Department argues that the Flores settlement was

quote meant to be temporary and that HHS's new regulation is quote expansive and

responsive and that these new care standards that they're mandating under

the regulation will quote provide needed protections to unaccompanied

children for years to come.

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