The “independent” law firm that Fairfax County Public Schools hired to investigate its handling of a groping case involving an illegal immigrant provides pro bono immigration assistance and coaches clients on how to elude deportation authorities.
Earlier this year, FCPS retained McGuireWoods, the largest law firm in Virginia, as an “objective” investigator to review whether the Northern Virginia school district properly dealt with a string of sexual assaults on school property committed by now-convicted illegal immigrant Israel Flores Ortiz.
Ortiz, a nearly 19-year-old foreign national in the U.S. illegally from El Salvador, allegedly groped roughly a dozen young girls on different occasions in the hallways of Fairfax High School.
The victims reported to police that Ortiz, an FCPS student enrolled in 11th grade, approached them from behind and grabbed their private parts by reaching between the girls’ thighs. A judge later found Ortiz guilty of nine counts of assault and battery out of 13 total assault charges, sentencing him to 360 days in jail plus probation.
McGuireWoods finds FCPS acted ‘appropriately’
FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid announced in a districtwide statement this week that McGuireWoods has cleared the school administration of any wrongdoing in how it handled multiple reports of Ortiz sexually assaulting female students between classes.
“The external investigation confirmed that our administration acted promptly and appropriately to stop this behavior,” Reid wrote Monday in the message to FCPS families.
It was revealed in court that Ortiz’s pattern of sexual predation stretched back months before FCPS alerted parents about the situation in March. During the criminal proceedings, Fairfax County prosecutors said Ortiz groped several girls over the course of the school year.
The Washington Examiner contacted FCPS and McGuireWoods for comment on potential objectivity concerns surrounding the law firm’s assessment of the school district’s actions, or alleged lack thereof.
Pro-immigration activism
McGuireWoods offers free immigration relief services through pro bono partnerships.
McGuireWoods also has dedicated teams of immigration and labor law attorneys who advise workplaces that employ illegal immigrant laborers on how to “navigate” unexpected visits from federal agents, enhanced scrutiny of I-9 documentation, and increased inspections.
In preparation for President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans following his inauguration, McGuireWoods circulated legal alerts urging companies to create action plans in case Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents appear at their worksites.
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In one workshop, a 55-minute webinar titled “Preparing for Immigration Investigations and Enforcement Actions,” law partners at McGuireWoods specializing in immigration audits walked clients through what to do during an ICE raid.
One of the lecturers recommended that employers with illegal immigrant workers mark off areas as private to make clear to ICE agents that they cannot enter those sections without a judicial warrant.
“Don’t take them back into the private areas where the employees-only room is,” an instructor warned.
Contract raises suspicion of bias
Fairfax County’s contract with McGuireWoods also indicates that the law firm’s investigative work on the Ortiz case was less “independent” than described. The language of the lucrative contract suggests McGuireWoods was beholden to affirm that FCPS acted swiftly to protect its student.
McGuireWoods charged FCPS up to $1,850 per hour to conduct its investigation into the Ortiz case, according to the retainer agreement acquired by independent reporter Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, a Fairfax County mother.
The arrangement terms said McGuireWoods was hired to perform “a confidential, attorney-client privileged investigation” and that the probe was commissioned “for the purpose of providing legal advice” to FCPS, as opposed to third-party oversight.
FCPS, citing attorney-client protections, declined to release the full report from McGuireWoods when WJLA-TV requested a complete copy of the taxpayer-funded investigation’s findings.
The school district said the report is “work product” protected by attorney-client privileges and includes information safeguarded under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
FCPS is a regular client of McGuireWoods. The law firm has secured other well-paying contracts over the past two years with FCPS, which is engaged in litigation against the federal government over Fairfax County’s refusal to scrap its transgender bathroom policies that permit students to access facilities opposite to their biological sex, allegedly in violation of Title IX.
Financial data shows that FCPS paid McGuireWoods almost $600,000 in legal fees this fiscal year, up from $489,000 that the school district spent on the law firm’s services in fiscal 2025.
The U.S. Education Department has since opened a Title IX investigation to examine whether FCPS followed proper reporting protocol in the Ortiz case.
Title IX, a federal law protecting single-sex spaces, also applies to sexual harassment and requires federally funded schools to respond accordingly to such allegations. School officials are supposed to file Title IX complaints against students credibly accused of sexual harassment, and the inquiries initiate disciplinary proceedings that can result in suspension or other corrective measures.
Reid, the district’s superintendent, maintains that FCPS administrators and staff “responded with the utmost urgency” and “fully complied with Title IX protocols.”
“Immediately upon receiving reports of the misconduct, staff utilized hallway surveillance footage to identify the suspect,” Reid told parents. “Once identified, [Ortiz] was immediately removed from class and separated from the general student population. The individual was placed in police custody, subsequently tried and convicted, and is currently incarcerated. He will therefore not return to our schools.”
Parents of victims claim FCPS tried to cover up Ortiz’s crimes
The parents of the victims, including children as young as 13, say FCPS officials not only failed to stop Ortiz from sexually preying upon underage girls throughout the academic year but also attempted to conceal the serious nature of the crimes once they came to light.
“They have attempted to sweep it under the rug,” one victim’s mother told WJLA-TV.
Around two to three weeks after the bulk of the offense dates, Fairfax High School Principal Georgina Aye sent a March 12 email notifying parents that a student was arrested on charges of “inappropriately touching other students at school,” simply saying that the incidents involved the male classmate touching his peers’ “buttocks.”
“Yeah, no, I would not be here for butt slapping,” another victim’s mother said of the “sanitized” letter, which was sent only after the parents said they demanded that FCPS inform the rest of the community.
Leaving out graphic details, such as Ortiz fondling the girls’ genitals, Aye’s memo also did not name Ortiz, disclose that he is legally an adult, or mention his illegal immigration status.
The district’s Trust Policy pledges that school administrators will not report identifying information to immigration authorities, as part of an effort to ensure anyone can access FCPS services without fear of deportation.
“[Illegal immigrants] should feel that schools and classrooms are safe, inviting, and inclusive, regardless of immigration status,” the FCPS policy states.
The victims’ parents said FCPS initially told them that the school system would allow Ortiz, who is no longer a student at Fairfax High School, to return when he is released.
“Abysmal, abysmal,” one of the mothers said, characterizing how FCPS addressed the scandal. “I think from the very beginning, Fairfax County has attempted to diminish what happened to these girls.”
Fairfax County itself is a sanctuary jurisdiction led by Democrats largely opposed to mass deportation. Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano had overhauled his department’s charging, sentencing, and plea bargaining procedures when it comes to prosecuting illegal immigrants, instructing all assistant Fairfax County prosecutors in 2020, the year he took office, to “consider immigration consequences where possible,” specifically “the detrimental impact that deportation/removal has” and “the collateral immigration consequences of the specific crime(s) the defendant is charged with.”
The groping incidents at FCPS were charged as assault and battery, a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of 12 months behind bars per offense, instead of sexual battery. Ortiz, who originally faced up to nine years of incarceration for the counts he was convicted on, is expected to spend less than half his 360-day sentence in county jail after Judge Melinda VanLowe suspended much of his sentence.
VanLowe, a Democratic donor, said at sentencing, “I absolutely believe in redemption,” telling Ortiz, “You can go on to do great things.”
“We were all very frustrated to hear that it was just simple assault and level-one misdemeanor, basically a fine,” one victim’s mother reacted to the outcome.
Lauren Bis, the deputy assistant secretary of Homeland Security, called the case “another example of the Biden Administration’s failed open border policies.” Ortiz illegally entered the United States in 2024 and was released under the Biden administration.
“This 18-year-old criminal illegal alien should NOT have been attending a Virginia high school and allowed to prey on innocent teenage girls,” Bis said.
ICE lodged a detention request with the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, asking that the sheriff’s office continue to hold Ortiz upon the completion of his jail sentence until deportation officers can assume custody of him.
In accordance with department policy, the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office does not honor ICE detention requests, which allow for in-facility transfers between the two agencies, unless the detainer form is accompanied by a court-approved criminal warrant.
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Judicially signed warrants, also known as criminal warrants, are harder to obtain because they require ICE to prove probable cause of a federal crime, unlike the administrative warrants that ICE routinely uses. Those civil forms authorize ICE to arrest individuals suspected of violating U.S. immigration law, a civil offense, and deport suspects with final orders of removal from the United States.
“That means that when [Ortiz is] released, ICE must assemble a team and find him in the community,” the federal agency says.