May 13, 2016 - 3:53 PM
AUSTIN, Texas - The Latest on a court hearing on issuing child care licenses to immigrant detention centres in Texas. (all times local):
5:45 p.m.
A court hearing reviewing whether Texas can grant residential child care licenses to two detention centres housing families caught illegally crossing the southern U.S. border will continue next month.
State District Judge Karin Crump in Austin said Friday that testimony will resume June 1.
Crump is considering an activist group's temporary injunction request, which would put any such licenses on hold until a lawsuit on the issue is resolved.
The federal government is working to have the facilities licensed by Texas after a California federal judge last year ruled immigrant children couldn't be held at centres not licensed as child care facilities.
Crump extended through June 1 a temporary restraining order blocking Texas from granting a license to a facility in Dilley, Texas. Another facility got a license last month.
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2:50 p.m.
A group of immigrant mothers says two Texas detention centres that have been ordered to be licensed to care for children are more like jails that have sickened their kids, affected their mental health and put them in danger.
The women testified at an Austin court hearing Friday after an activist group sued to stop a Texas agency from granting a residential child-care license to one of the facilities, which house families caught illegally crossing the Mexico-U.S. border.
The license is needed after a California federal judge ruled immigrant children couldn't be held at detention centres not licensed as child care facilities.
The Associated Press is not publishing the mothers' names after a judge ordered they not be identified because it could put them at risk.
Testimony continued Friday afternoon.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016