NOTE: I stupidly linked the wrong Flores settlement above without checking the page. Here's the right one, Reno v. Flores (1993/1997).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reno_v._Flores

I know, it's just that detaining them together is still a little less evil than detaining them separated. Sometimes you have to take what you can get.
Just keep in mind, that's genuinely the logic of escalation. If I kidnap you and keep you chained up and starved for a week, but on the 8th day I give you a warm bowl of porridge, imagine how grateful you will be to me for having fed you.

What happens to them then?
Back to the child camps, unless and until the admin gets a superseding legislation or court decision. Then it's, well, not technically forever (unconstitutional), but in practice possibly probably indefinitely. If it's detention pending administration of criminal process like the Republican proposals, then given the case backlog, priorities, inadequate staffing, and the bad record the system has with giving low-status people speedy trials, it really is indefinite.

Be aware that Flores requires child detainees be kept in the "least restrictive" possible environment...

https://www.vox.com/2018/6/20/174845...nt-immigration