On Apr. 12, 2017, the ACLUs of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware filed this lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. This was one of over a dozen such suits; each aimed to shed light on how U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) implemented President Trump's Jan. 27 and Mar. 6 Executive Orders that ban admission to the U.S. of nationals of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Specifically, plaintiffs sought information "concerning CBP’s local implementation of President Trump’s January 27, 2017 Executive Order...as well as any other judicial order or executive directive issued regarding Executive Order No. 1, including President Trump’s March 6, 2017 Executive Order."

The request concerned implementation at international airports within the purview of CBP's Baltimore Field Office, including Washington Dulles International Airport, Baltimore Washington International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport, Pittsburgh International Airport ("Local International Airports"), and Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Port of Washington-Dulles and Wilmington ("Port of Entry Offices"). The request also concerned the number of individuals who were detained or subjected to secondary screening, extended questioning, enforcement examination, or consideration for a waiver at the aforementioned airports pursuant to the Executive Orders.

In the complaint, plaintiffs argued that the requested records "would facilitate the public’s understanding of how Defendants implemented and enforced the Executive Orders here in the San Francisco Field Office" and that "[s]uch information is critical to the public’s ability to hold the government accountable."

On May 9, the government filed a motion to treat all of these FOIA cases as "multi-district litigation," effectively seeking to consolidate them before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. For the transfer motion see this case.

On June 26, Judge Brinkema stayed all proceedings pending the decision on the motion to transfer. On Aug. 25, the parties filed a consent motion to reopen the case, given that the government's MDL motion to transfer was denied on Aug. 2. The Court granted this consent motion on the same day.

On Jan. 11, Judge Brinkema ordered as follows:
- CBP must process 200 pages of potentially responsive emails in its Baltimore office by Feb. 28, and 400 pages by Apr. 30;
- CBP must produce responsive, non-exempt records to plaintiffs by Apr. 30;
- CBP must make rolling productions every two months after that, achieving 95% production by Aug. 31;
- CBP must complete production by Dec. 31.

The parties will file joint status reports every two months. Any hearing is postponed until after the parties file their final joint status report.

The latest status report, of Mar. 15, noted that defendants had completed processing of over 900 pages.

The documents released by the government in all the ACLU cases are available through this case page. This case is ongoing.

Ava Morgenstern - 03/17/2018
Virginia Weeks - 02/15/2018


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