Special master, monitor appointed in Flores immigration litigation

Chief U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee appointed veteran attorney Andrea Sheridan Ordin as special master in the decades-old Flores litigation, returning her to a court-oversight role she previously held.

In orders Monday, Gee appointed Ordin and Dr. Paul H. Wise, as independent monitor, to oversee federal compliance with the Flores Settlement Agreement governing the detention, treatment and release of immigrant minors. Their initial 12-month term will begin after a monitoring protocol is finalized, with possible extensions if compliance concerns remain. Flores v. Blanche, 2:85-cv-04544-DMG-AGR (C.D. Cal., filed July 11, 1985).

Ordin declined to comment by phone Tuesday.

Gee cited the government's history of noncompliance, current violations, continuing disputes over the settlement and the litigation's complexity. Since the Dilley Immigration Processing Center reopened in Texas in 2025, plaintiffs have filed 105 declarations from class members and parents interviewed there.

"The Court gave defendants a year to come into compliance with the Flores Settlement and they failed to do so," said Sarah E. Kahn, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. She said the appointment would provide independent oversight of what she described as "brutal conditions and prolonged detention" of children.

Ordin previously served as special master and independent monitor in Flores and returned in December 2025 to mediate disputes over conditions at Dilley and notice of Flores rights.

Ordin served as U.S. attorney for the Central District of California from 1977 to 1981, becoming the first woman to lead the office. She later headed the California Attorney General's Public Rights Division and served as Los Angeles County counsel.

Ordin also served on the Christopher Commission, which investigated Los Angeles Police Department practices after the 1991 beating of Rodney King, and later on the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners.

Ordin and Wise may conduct announced and unannounced facility visits, interview detained families and government personnel and review CBP and ICE records. They must report at least quarterly and may recommend corrective measures but cannot impose sanctions or issue court orders.

Their oversight covers detention times at CBP facilities in the Rio Grande Valley, El Paso and San Diego sectors, including the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, as well as Dilley and hotels holding minors. They will also monitor detention conditions and medical care.

Gee pointed to evidence that average CBP detention times for minors in family units exceeded 72 hours from March through June, while ICE reported average stays at Dilley exceeding 20 days for five consecutive months. Plaintiffs estimated 1,560 minors were held at Dilley longer than 20 days during a six-month period.

The government has argued that Flores imposes neither a strict 72-hour Border Patrol limit nor a strict 20-day limit at Dilley, instead requiring processing "as expeditiously as possible." At an Aug. 4 hearing, government counsel also opposed expanding CBP monitoring nationwide, arguing the evidentiary record did not support it.

Attorneys for the government did not respond to phone or email requests for comment by press time.