AMNA NAWAZ: The Biden administration is asking a federal judge to partially terminate a decades-old agreement that set standards of care for unaccompanied migrant children held in U.S. custody.

White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez joins us now to explain what this means.

So, Laura, if the Biden administration's request is granted by the court, what does that mean?

What does that do?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: This would essentially end one part of the decades-old Flores settlement agreement.

And that Flores settlement agreement was first established in 1997.

And the part that they're looking to terminate is the part that applies to the Health and Human Services Department.

The Health and Human Services Department is responsible for caring for these unaccompanied migrant children shortly after their arrival.

They oversee the facilities where they're housed across the southern border.

And this agreement mandated standards of care that -- we're talking about basic safety for these migrant children, adequate food, drinking water, medical care, temperature control, sanitary living conditions.

And if a judge agrees with the Justice Department, then this part of that decades-old settlement agreement would be terminated.

AMNA NAWAZ: And so why is the administration doing this now?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: HHS recently finalized a new regulation that they say strengthens protections across the board for these unaccompanied migrant children.

And they say that it goes well beyond the 1997 Flores agreement.

And in its court filing, the Justice Department argues that the Flores settlement was -- quote -- "meant to be temporary" and that HHS' new regulation is -- quote -- "expansive and responsive" and that these new care standards that they're mandating under the regulation will -- quote -- "provide needed protections to unaccompanied children for years to come."

Amna, I spoke to a senior HHS official today who said that they're essentially just following the timeline that was laid out by that original court agreement, the Flores court agreement, which mandated -- which essentially stipulated that, once a regulation is finalized by the government that lays out standards of care for migrants, that 45 days after that, they should seek to terminate that court agreement.

AMNA NAWAZ: But the independent Flores lawyers are opposing the administration's move to end that agreement.

Why?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Because the Flores Council - - these are lawyers that represent these unaccompanied children held in U.S. custody -- say that there's a big gap between what's covered under the Flores agreement and this new HHS regulation.

These Flores Council lawyers say essentially that their oversight power that they have had under the court agreement, the ability to inspect facilities under HHS jurisdiction all across the southern border, is going to be taken away if the court agreement is terminated.

And I spoke to Diane de Gramont, a Flores attorney with the National Center for Youth Law, who shared what she has seen when she's inspected these facilities.

DIANE DE GRAMONT, National Center for Youth Law: You had thousands of children in cots in a giant space, in some places without any ability to go outdoors, with no education, with no structured activities, with no access to mental health care.

And nobody, apart from us, was able to go in and speak to them.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Diane de Gramont stressed that only independent attorneys are able to have access to speak to these children, to alert the government to potential violations.

And then, if they need to go to court, they can go to court to take action to enforce standards of care.

Now, the senior HHS official that I spoke to pushed back on this, essentially saying that the new regulation sets up an ombudsman office, a public advocate of sorts, that will be independent of HHS' office that currently oversees these facilities, and that that independent public advocate office will receive complaints, they will investigate, and they will address concerns.

But the full breadth and capabilities of that office aren't known yet, Amna, and it won't be known for some days now, until the regulation is fully in effect in July.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, when it comes to who could be impacted by all this, who are we talking about here?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: In recent years, there have been roughly 120,000 unaccompanied migrant children that have arrived at the southern border per year.

Now, at any given moment, there are about 7,000 to 10,000 unaccompanied migrant children in these facilities that HHS oversees.

Now, many of them are quickly released to family that -- or sponsors that are living in the U.S., but there are also some that are detained for quite a long time in these facilities.

And that's why the Flores Council lawyers that I spoke to said that oversight is so key, because they feel that it's necessary for them to be able to get into those facilities, to speak to these unaccompanied migrants, to see what they're experiencing, and to potentially force government action.

AMNA NAWAZ: Laura Barron-Lopez, thank you for your reporting.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.