This FOIA suit was filed on October 20, 2017. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center ("ILRC") sought to compel the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") to release records related to sanctuary cities. Specifically, ILRC sought information related to "whether and to what extent city and county law enforcement agencies agree to assist in ICE’s detention and deportation efforts against immigrants living in the United States." ILRC is a nonprofit organization that promotes diversity in the United States and the rights of all people. The plaintiff, represented by private counsel, filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Northern District of California.
ILRC previously wrote "a widely-cited report educating the public about the extent of local involvement in immigration enforcement, despite the fact that local jurisdictions have no legal obligation to assist with civil immigration enforcement." It filed this FOIA complaint to access records necessary for updating its report to reflect current practices regarding ICE detainers, detention contracts, and agreements. ILRC argued that in light of the Trump administration's directive to increase deportations with the assistance of local authorities, the public had an increased interest in understanding the extent of assistance local authorities provide.
On October 23, the case was assigned to Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong and then reassigned to Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu on February 6, 2018.
On April 10, 2018, the parties filed a joint case management statement. According to the statement, the defendants, on December 15, 2017, produced 232 pages of documents and 10 spreadsheets to plaintiff, with portions withheld pursuant to FOIA exemptions. The defendants asserted that on January 8, 2018, they completed their production and provided plaintiff with a summary of the search. Plaintiff contended that the defendants had not conducted a reasonable and adequate search, citing "the use of limited search terms and questions about the extent to which defendants included field office records in their searches." The allegedly unreasonable and inadequate search was related to plaintiff's request for records, which had yet to be produced, regarding new or proposed detention facilities and probation departments that have agreed to cooperate with ICE. The plaintiff also contended that it was entitled to a
Vaughn index detailing responsive records not produced and the respective reasons for not producing them. According to the statement, the plaintiff advised the defendants of these concerns and the parties were in good faith working to resolve the issues.
On August 8, 2018, the parties filed another joint case management statement. According to the statement, defendants produced an “informal”
Vaughn index in response to plaintiff’s request for information about redactions. Per the parties, the defendants agreed to provide additional documents and conduct a search of local field offices in response to plaintiff’s requests. During a July 13, 2018, call between the parties, the defendants stated that they had begun to conduct a search of field offices. On July 24, 2018, defendants estimated that documents resulting from this search would be ready for production in August.
As of February 17, 2020, there have been no motions or additional joint case management statements filed. On multiple occasions, the parties stipulated to continue case management conferences, as the parties wished to conserve judicial resources while they engaged in cooperative meetings to narrow and resolve the issues. A case management conference is scheduled for May 6, 2020 and the parties are currently engaged in settlement discussions.
Virginia Weeks - 10/23/2017
Virginia Weeks - 02/10/2018
Aaron Gurley - 02/17/2020
compress summary
