​AG Bonta led a coalition of 20 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief opposing the Trump Administration’s efforts to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement, which has been in place since 1997. The Flores Settlement Agreement provides crucial protections against the inappropriate detention of children and ensures the children in immigration custody are held in facilities licensed in and subject to oversight by the states in which they reside. In May 2025, the Trump Administration moved to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement with the goal of expanding family detention and increasing the duration of child detention. In the brief filed, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition urge the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to block the Trump Administration’s latest attempt to end the Flores Settlement Agreement and to prevent the Administration from keeping children in prolonged and unnecessary detention.

“It is shocking, vile, but unfortunately unsurprising that the Trump Administration is once again trying to strip away decades-old protections designed to keep immigrant children safe. No child deserves to be left in potentially unsafe or unhealthy conditions, or subjected to prolonged confinement. Shame on this Administration for using vulnerable immigrant children as political pawns to further their ideological agenda. California will continue to fight for the protection, welfare, and safety of all children, regardless of their immigration status.” – AG Bonta