The government asked for another chance to argue its case before the judge, citing the "potentially far-reaching scope of the remedies proposed," and the short time — 90 days — it would have to put them in place.
    Laura Lichter, a Denver immigration lawyer working with detained families, said the government had "doubled down" on family detention, and is "enamored of it as a tool, even though a judge has called it both illegal and ineffective."
    A spokesman for Homeland Security had no immediate comment on the filing.
    The government poured millions of dollars into two large detention centers in Texas for women and children after tens of thousands of immigrant families, mostly from Central America, crossed the Rio Grande into the U.S. last summer. Many have petitioned for asylum after fleeing gang and domestic violence back home.
    The centers in Karnes City and Dilley, both south of San Antonio, currently hold some 1,400 women and children combined, down from more than 2,000 in June. A third, smaller facility is located in Berks County, Pennsylvania. All three are overseen by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement but managed by private prison operators.
    In her ruling, Gee found that detaining children violated parts of a 1997 settlement from another case barring immigrant children from being held in secure facilities. She said the settlement covered all children in the custody of immigration officials, even those who entered the country illegally with a parent, and that the facilities were not properly licensed to care for children.
    Some 38,000 children arrived with their mothers on the border during the 2014 fiscal year.
    Immigration authorities have vowed to make the detention facilities more child-friendly and to provide better oversight. Homeland Security and ICE officials say they are looking to release families as soon as they pass the interviews that are the first hurdle to being granted asylum.
    In Thursday's filing, lawyers for the government argued that ICE now aims to detain families no longer than 20 days and that most are being released within about two weeks. Last year the majority of families spent more than a month in detention, and some were detained several months.
    In recent weeks, more mothers have been released with their children. Bonds have been drastically reduced, and many of the women have been fitted with electronic ankle monitors, according to immigrant rights lawyers.
    More than 170 House Democrats have asked Homeland Security to close the facilities. Immigrant rights advocates have filed two complaints demanding investigations into the centers.