A federal judge says the Trump administration must bring back three deported families who should have been allowed to remain in the United States under a court settlement involving the separation of children from their parents at the border.

A federal judge is prohibiting the separation of families at the border for purposes of deterring immigration for eight years.

Most of the parents were deported to their Central American homelands, and their children were placed with sponsors in the U.S., often relatives. But it was later discovered an additional 1,556 children were taken from their parents going back to summer 2017, including the 545 kids who are still separated. The administration’s foot-dragging has made it even tougher to find the parents because of how much time has passed, he said. The judge called for an update on Dec. 2 and set another hearing for Dec. 4 to discuss the progress. Just nine parents separated from their children were allowed back in January.

A federal judge says a Guatemalan family cannot be returned to Mexico to wait for their next hearing in U.S. immigration court without being allowed to consult an attorney. The judge scheduled a hearing Dec. 13 on whether the ruling should apply to all asylum-seekers returned to Mexico through California to wait for their next court appearance. The judge said the family must have access to their attorney before and during an interview with U.S. authorities to determine if Mexico is safe enough for them to wait. Critics have highlighted recent cases of asylum-seekers sent back to Mexico with nonexistent court dates — an issue they say may be addressed through more attorney access. Only 1.3% of asylum-seekers who were sent back to Mexico to wait by the end of June had attorneys, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.