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U.S. District Court Chief Judge Dolly M. Gee excoriated the Trump administration over its treatment of migrant children in a pair of decisions this week, saying she saw no choice but to name a new enforcer to protect kids it has detained.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefendants cannot claim amnesia as to the history of the case,\u201d Gee wrote Monday in a order to force compliance with the Flores Settlement. The nearly 30-year-old legal agreement ensures minimum standards for housing, education and medical care for migrant kids in federal custody, as well limits on how long they can be held in government facilities.<\/p>\n
The next morning, the judge named attorney Andrea Sheridan Ordin as special master and Dr. Paul H. Wise as independent monitor to enforce the agreement, over the objections of federal officials.<\/p>\n
Gee has managed the settlement for nearly as long as she\u2019s sat on the federal bench in Los Angeles, while President Trump has spent the bulk of his time in Washington seeking to dissolve it.<\/p>\n
Their stalemate heated up this summer, when a fresh appeal seeking to undo the agreement reached the 9th Circuit. The appellate panel voiced serious doubts about undoing the consent decree at oral arguments in June. But experts said the administration likely would appeal an unfavorable ruling to the Supreme Court, leaving the fate of hundreds of children and their families in doubt.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has pressed the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to \u2018thumbs-up, thumbs-down\u2019 the Flores settlement agreement, a decades-old case in Los Angeles federal court that sets the rules for how the government can detain migrant children.<\/p>\n
The new oversight further complicates the matter.<\/p>\n
Gee made a similar move to enforce the settlement in response to the president\u2019s controversial first-term family separation policy and widespread public outcry over the treatment of children in immigration detention. The most recent special master\u2019s term ended last summer, just as the Trump administration began to ramp up its mass deportation program, rounding up and detaining thousands of immigrants.<\/p>\n
Over the last year, advocates have collected declarations from scores of detainees describing inedible food, substandard medical care and callous treatment at the hands of guards and staff. Multiple parents recounted a Christmas photo-op in which an ICE agent dressed as Santa Claus shoved away children who tried to hug him, then vanished with his treats the moment the cameras disappeared.<\/p>\n
Others told of children suffering serious ailments who were shooed off with Tylenol.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a minimum, the evidence regarding medical care is conflicting and the reported differences in reality are stark,\u201d Gee wrote in her order.<\/p>\n
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