In an effort to keep children from living in terrible conditions, Carlos Holguín and his co-counsel sued—and changed the legal landscape surrounding the rights of immigrant minors. The 1985 class action lawsuit they filed to strike down the parents-only release policy became Flores v. Meese (for Edwin Meese, the U.S. attorney general at the time, and lead plaintiff Jenny Lisette Flores, a 15-year-old detainee). The suit ended in a settlement that’s still among the most powerful legal tools available to immigrant children’s advocates.
https://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/meet_the_father_of_the_landmark_lawsuit_that_secured_basic_rights_for_immig