On April 12, 2017, the ACLU of Arizona filed this suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This was one of over a dozen such suits; each aimed to shed light on how U.S. Customs and Border Protection implemented President Trump's Jan. 27 and Mar. 6 Executive Orders (EO) 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 the Executive Order," including President Trump’s March 6, 2017 Executive Order. The request concerned implementation at sites within the purview of CBP’s Tucson Field Office, including Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. 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 EO.

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

The case was assigned to Judge Deborah M. Fine.

On May 8, the government filed a motion to treat all of these FOIA cases as "multidistrict litigation" effectively consolidating them before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. For the transfer motion see this case. The ACLU filed their opposition to the motion to transfer on May 30, arguing that "[g]ranting consolidation and transfer would promote forum-shopping and delay, not justice." On Aug. 3, the U.S. District Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation denied the government's consolidation motion. In its order, the Panel found that, although the thirteen FOIA cases shared "a limited number of factual issues," these issues "appear[ed] relatively straightforward and unlikely to entail extensive pretrial proceedings."

Litigation continued over a production schedule, and on June 5, 2018 the court (Judge Humetewa) ordered the government to complete its production on a rolling basis by November 30, 2018. On June 22, the court amended its order to indicate pages are to be processed by November 30 rather than produced.

The case is ongoing.

Virginia Weeks - 05/04/2017
Virginia Weeks - 06/30/2018
Jamie Kessler - 08/07/2017


compress summary