McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A decades-old policy on protections for immigrant children in federal custody is inhibiting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, government attorneys told a judge Friday.

The administration asked U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles during a hearing to dissolve the policy, which limits how long Customs and Border Protection can hold immigrant children and requires them to be kept in safe and sanitary conditions. Gee did not immediately issue a decision and it’s not clear how soon she might rule.

Gee, who oversees what is known as the Flores agreement, expressed skepticism at the government’s request. She said that while border apprehensions have dropped under President Donald Trump, conditions “are deteriorating.”

“It seems counterintuitive that should happen unless it’s willful,” said Gee, who was nominated to the court by President Barack Obama.

Advocates for immigrant children asked the judge to keep the protections and oversight in place and submitted firsthand accounts from immigrants in family detention who described adults fighting children for clean water, despondent toddlers and a child with swollen feet who was denied a medical exam.