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By VALERIE GONZALEZ, Associated Press

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Hundreds of immigrant children across the nation were detained for longer than the legal limit this summer, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has admitted in a court filing, alarming legal advocates who say the government is failing to safeguard children.

In a court filing Wednesday evening, attorneys for detainees highlighted the government’s own admissions to longer custody times for immigrant children, unsanitary conditions reported by families and monitors at federal facilities, and a renewed reliance on hotels for detention .

The reports were filed as part of an ongoing civil lawsuit launched in 1985 that led to the creation of the 1990s cornerstone policy known as the

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