--- title: Family Detention Policy: Trump Administration Files Papers description: Trump administration proposal would end the Flores Agreement, which determines how long—and how—immigrant kids can be held in custody canonical: https://time.com/5388643/family-separation-policy-court-agreement/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-06T17:31:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T07:53:25.915Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Family Separation Policy Ended. Now the Trump Administration Is Pursuing a Family Detention Policy og:description: Parents and children would be held in the same detention centers. og:url: https://time.com/5388643/family-separation-policy-court-agreement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta16354a0f6aca5d8/698936efbc6cfc2b563e69b2/holtzman-immigration-united-states-policy-reunification-trump-seperation-northern-triangle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: holtzman-immigration-united-states-policy-reunification-trump-seperation-northern-triangle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Family Separation Policy Ended. Now the Trump Administration Is Pursuing a Family Detention Policy twitter:description: Parents and children would be held in the same detention centers. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta16354a0f6aca5d8/698936efbc6cfc2b563e69b2/holtzman-immigration-united-states-policy-reunification-trump-seperation-northern-triangle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 00:34 video:published: 2018-06-20 section: politics topics: executive order, immigrant families, border detention, family separation, presidential policy, political courage genre: news, event coverage tones: assertive, defensive, confident emotions: determination (high), satisfaction (medium), defensiveness (medium) sentiment: neutral audience: general news audiences, policy observers, immigration advocates, political followers people: Donald Trump organizations: U.S. government content_suitability: politics [00:00-00:34] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # The Family Separation Policy Ended. Now the Trump Administration Is Pursuing a Family Detention Policy > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=d9766099-be1e-46fc-9543-993e61086fc6&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Signs Executive Order to Keep Immigrant Families Together [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Signs Executive Order to Keep Immigrant Families Together](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/q26Jygjj.m3u8) (0:34)  _Published 2018-06-20. In a sudden reversal, President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that he says will keep together immigrant families who have been detained at the U.S. border_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary President Trump, in a brief clip, is shown signing an executive order that he says will keep immigrant families together after they were detained at the border. When asked why he waited so long, he argues the issue has persisted for decades without political action. He says he intends to address the problem now. ## Key points - Trump says there will be a lot of happy people as a result of the action he signed. (00:04) - Asked why he waited so long to sign the order, Trump responded directly to the question. (00:08) - Trump claims the problem has been going on for 60 years. (00:16) - Trump says nobody in the past has taken care of the issue. (00:20) - Trump asserts that previous leaders lacked the political courage to address the issue. (00:25) - Trump states that his administration is going to take care of the issue now. (00:25) - Trump says the situation has been going on for a long time. (00:29) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:12] Trump thanks supporters after signing order. Trump addresses a group, telling them there will be many happy people, and thanks them for attending. - [00:12 to 00:34] Trump defends timing and vows action. Asked why he waited, Trump argues the issue has gone unresolved for 60 years and pledges to address it now. ## Key quotes - [00:04] President Trump: "You're gonna have a lot of happy people." - [00:20] President Trump: "60 years nobody's taken care of it." - [00:25] President Trump: "Nobody's had the political courage to take care of it." - [00:25] President Trump: "But we're going to take care of it." ## Questions this video answers - Why did the president wait so long to sign the order? [00:08] - How long has the issue been going on, according to the president? [00:16] - Why has the issue not been addressed in the past, according to the president? [00:25] - Will the administration take action on this issue? [00:25] ## Content suitability - politics [00:00-00:34]: Discussion of a presidential executive order on immigration policy and border detention. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 6, 2018 5:31 PM UTC In a sudden reversal, President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that he says will keep together immigrant families who have been detained at the U.S. border by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 6, 2018 5:31 PM UTC Hoping to deter undocumented immigrants from crossing the Mexican border, the Trump Administration separated more than 2,000 parents and children over the summer. When a [June 20 executive order](http://time.com/5371963/family-separation-policy-border-lawyers/) ended the practice, the Administration sought to detain immigrant families together. Those efforts have so far been thwarted because of a longstanding court agreement that requires the government to release immigrant children after 20 days in detention. On Thursday, the Administration [filed proposed regulation](http://time.com/5388675/trump-administration-courts-immigration-family-separation/) to terminate that court order, known as the Flores Settlement Agreement, and detain entire families for the duration of the legal proceedings that determine if they can stay. The rule, which will published on Friday, would also allow the federal government to transfer family units to facilities that are not “state licensed,” which is currently required. The government says licensing requirements have limited its ability to use family detention. The Administration has blamed the Flores settlement, which stemmed from a 1997 case, for forcing it to release parents and children who arrive in the United States without immigration paperwork to be monitored with GPS anklets, a practice that President Donald Trump has disparagingly called “catch and release.” The government argues the likelihood of release has driven more adults to try to cross the border with kids. The government says it would retain the “basic purpose” of Flores under the rule, which is to make sure kids in custody are treated with “dignity, respect, and concern for their particular vulnerability as minors,” while closing loopholes that it says gives adults incentives to make the dangerous journey to the U.S. The Trump Administration has already attempted to amend Flores with hopes of detaining families indefinitely. But in July, a U.S. District Court Judge rejected the government’s request to amend the agreement and accused government lawyers of “trying to to light a match to the Flores Agreement and ask this Court to upend the parties’ agreement by judicial fiat.” The proposed rule seems to be an attempt to work around that. But the rule-making process does not mean the changes will be implemented right away. Once the proposal is published on Friday, the public will have 60 days to comment on it. Those comments are to be considered before agencies move forward with the final proposal. This rule is very likely to receive a flurry of negative comments. A group of immigration attorneys have already said a [child died shortly after being released](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/migrant-child-reportedly-dies-after-release-from-ice-family-detention-facility/2018/08/01/6a9515ea-95a8-11e8-a679-b09212fb69c2%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.306c6aec5017) from immigration detention this summer. A group of families being held in detention in Texas [staged a hunger strike in August](https://www.npr.org/2018/08/01/634696370/immigrant-fathers-in-detention-plan-hunger-strike) in protest of how their cases are being handled. And immigration advocates argue that even under the Flores settlement detention of minors, regardless of whether or not a child is with his or her parents, is harmful. Last spring, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement that recommended against the use of any detention, including family detention, for children because it can lead to anxiety, stress and trauma. “It is sickening to see the United States government looking for ways to jail more children for longer,” Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement. “That’s the complete opposite of what we should be doing — and it’s yet another example of the Trump administration’s hostility toward immigrants resulting in a policy incompatible with the most basic human values.” ## Transcript [00:00] Okay. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] You're gonna have a [00:04] lot of happy people. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Thank [00:08] you again. Mr. President why did [00:12] you wait so long to sign [00:16] this? [ UNKNOWN ] This has been going [00:20] on for 60 years. 60 years nobody's [00:25] taken care of it. Nobody's had the political courage to [00:29] take care of it. But we're going to take care of it. It's [00:31] been going on. It's been going on for a long time. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5388643/family-separation-policy-court-agreement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5388643/family-separation-policy-court-agreement/"},"headline":"The Family Separation Policy Ended. 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