U.S. federal judge rules mothers and children held in immigration detention centers must be released

• The judge cited poor detention conditions and failure to comply with a 1997 ruling on the detention of migrant children as grounds for release.
• Border officials resorted to the detention centers during the surge of undocumented migrant arrivals in 2014, many of whom were unaccompanied children.
• The Department of Homeland Security will have to develop a release strategy by August 3, according to the ruling.

“It is astonishing that Defendants have enacted a policy requiring such expensive infrastructure without more evidence to show that it would be compliant with an Agreement that has been in effect for nearly 20 years. … It is even more shocking that after nearly two decades Defendants have not implemented appropriate regulations to deal with this complicated area of immigration law.”

Read the full story at BuzzFeed News.