Washington, July 24 (RHC)-- A U.S. federal judge has denied pleas to release immigrant families imprisoned at three Immigration and Customs Enforcement “family detention centers” in Texas and Pennsylvania, despite concerns over rising coronavirus infections. 

This move as a separate federal judge has given ICE until July 27th to release children from these facilities, prompting fears that families will once again be separated.

In related news, the Associated Press reports the Trump administration has been detaining immigrant children and toddlers as young as 1 year old in hotels, sometimes for weeks at a time, and then deporting them. 

Immigrant rights attorneys say this violates federal anti-human-trafficking laws that demand unaccompanied immigrant children be sent to government shelters or placed with sponsors.  A private contractor working with ICE has reportedly been taking children to three Hampton Inn & Suites hotels in Arizona and at the Texas-Mexico border.  The hotels have reportedly been used at least 200 times.