The Trump administration says that it will hold migrant families as long as necessary to prosecute them

LOS ANGELES – A Trump administration filing with the US District Court argues that the government may detain parents and children at the border as long as necessary to prosecute them

. Judge Dana Sabraw's decision in San Diego on Tuesday that immigration authorities must stop separating migrant children from their parents and reunite about 2,000 children detained separately since May.

The preliminary injunction in favor of an unnamed woman from Congo, known only as Ms. L, meant that the Justice Department of President Donald Trump had two choices: to release the parents and children or keep them together for 20 days, limit for children under the 1997 regulations.

Government lawyers have formally requested that the agreement be amended so that it can keep families together during the pro's duration of the parents an attempt to illegally enter the United States. But the Trump administration in the meantime maintains that the Sabraw Order does not give it any other choice than to hold families for lawsuits.

"We believe that the Flores Accord allows the government to detain families to comply with Ms. L's national order," said a spokesman from the US Department of Justice. "We still continue to believe that a change in the Flores Agreement is appropriate to address this problem."

In the filing, the Department of Justice says that 39, he will keep the families until the causes of the parents are tried, which may take months.

"To comply with Ms. L's injunction, the government will not separate the families but will hold the families together during the immigration process when they will be apprehended at or between the ports of entry and thus subject to the order of Mrs. L. "»

A Such an approach was feared by the defenders of immigrants who believed all the time that President Trump, by signing a decree to end the policy of separation of children from parents on the southern border, had the intention of detaining families.

The American Civil Liberties Union challenges the interpretation of the decision by the Trump administration.

Lee Gelernt, Deputy Director of Immigrant Rights Pr oject, said that the government has the constitutional obligation to release parents who do not pose a risk of theft or danger, and that parents may choose to release their children if they do not want them to be in a family detention center.

"In the end, the case (San Diego) leaves it to parents to decide what is in the best interests of the child," Gelernt said. It would be outright unconstitutional if the government's goal of detaining families is punitive or dissuasive.

The policy of separation of the families of the administration was presented as a deterrent against illegal immigration by the Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the staff of John Kelly said that the l 39; Influx of migrants fleeing violence in Central America has accelerated the pace, the authorities said.

Many of these people are seeking asylum in the United States after fleeing gangs and threats in places like Honduras. El Salvador

A policy of keeping whole families beyond 20 days may require the construction of new facilities. NBC News found that, according to government data and a detention rate at the southern border of 420 parents and children a day, immigration authorities will run out of space for them in a matter of days.