"It is apparent that Defendants’ Application is a cynical attempt… to shift responsibility to the Judiciary for over 20 years of Congressional inaction and ill-considered Executive action that have led to the current stalemate," Judge Dolly Gee was quoted as saying by the media.
READ MORE: US Plans to House Migrants at Military Bases Amid Trump Crackdown
In accordance with a so-called zero-tolerance policy, declared in April, the US authorities have detained all families that attempted to cross the US border illegally as a matter of course, with parents being sent to prison pending trial and children being taken to separate detention facilities.
Over 2,000 children have been detained and separated from their families from early May to early June as a result of this policy, with the issue of families' separation triggering public outrage and harsh criticism of Trump's administration. In the face of public resentment, Trump signed in late June a decree that prohibited the further separation of families.