A judge has ruled that migrant children awaiting processing by Customs and Border Protection officials at temporary camps along the U.S.-Mexico border are in Customs and Border Protection custody and subject to a long-standing, court-supervised agreement that sets the stage for their treatment standards.

The question of when children officially come into CPB custody is particularly important because of a 1997 court settlement over how to treat immigrant children in the custody of the U.S. government. The standards include limits on how long children can be detained and services such as toilets, sinks and temperature control.

Wednesday’s ruling means the Department of Homeland Security must quickly process the children and place them in “safe and sanitary” facilities.

Border camps have become a point of conflict between immigrant advocates and the federal government. The United States says smugglers are sending migrants to refugee camps and argues the children are not in CPB custody because they have not been arrested. Supporters say the U.S. government has a responsibility for these children, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection often directing migrants to refugee camps and sometimes even driving them there.

Children traveling alone must be turned over to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services within 72 hours. The agency typically releases them to family in the United States while an immigration judge considers asylum. Families seeking asylum are typically released in the United States while their cases play out in court.

Neha Desai, senior director of immigration at the National Immigration Service, said: “This is a huge victory for children in open detention, but the courts must direct the government to do what basic human decency and the law clearly require. , this remains a tragedy,” the Youth Law Center said in a statement. “We expect CBP to comply quickly with the court’s order, and we remain committed to holding CBP accountable for meeting the most basic needs of children in their legal custody, including food, shelter and basic medical care.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee’s decision could have far-reaching consequences as the face of people coming to the United States changes. Decades ago, the typical person trying to enter the United States was an adult male from Mexico looking for work. Now, more and more families with children are making the dangerous journey to the border in search of a new life. Caring for children places different pressures on federal agencies, historically more geared toward adults.

The legal challenges focus on two areas of California: one between two border fences in San Diego and another in a remote mountainous area east of San Diego. Migrants crossing the border illegally wait under empty skies, sometimes in tents or structures made of tree branches, while lacking food and water. When the number of migrants was particularly high last year, they waited for days for CBP agents to arrest and process them.

Gee ruled that Customs and Border Protection’s juvenile coordinator must keep records of minors detained by the agency for more than 72 hours, including any time the minor spent in camps. Gee wrote that the agency must ensure that the treatment of minors in open spaces complies with the 1997 agreement.

Gee set a May 10 deadline for the juvenile coordinator to submit an interim report on the number of minors being held in open spaces and how the agency is complying with the judge’s order.