SAN ANTONIO – A state judge has ruled that Texas can't implement emergency rules to fast-track licensing of two immigrant family detention facilities as residential child care centers.
A judge in Austin ordered a temporary injunction Friday blocking the emergency rules. The judge said that the emergency rules removed the facilities' obligation to comply with minimum standards and didn't address a "true emergency."
State licenses are needed because a federal judge ruled in August that the detention facilities couldn't hold immigrant children without adequate licensing.
Health officials can still proceed with licensing the facilities through the normal rule-making process, which is already underway and includes time for public comment. The two detention centers opened last year in response to tens of thousands of mothers and children arriving from Central America.
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