On May 1, 2018, the Council on American-Islamic Relations - Chicago (CAIR-Chicago) filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The case was assigned to Judge Robert Gettleman. CAIR-Chicago sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency within DHS, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Represented by private counsel, CAIR-Chicago sought declaratory and injunctive relief.

On August 1, 2017, CAIR-Chicago filed a FOIA request for records containing demographics and processing times of naturalization, change of status, and asylum since the 2008 institution of the Controlled Application Review & Resolution Program, a policy that imposes rules to delay or deny immigration benefits. CAIR-Chicago sought expedited processing of its FOIA request because it suspected religious discrimination against Muslim applicants, but defendants denied this request. The defendants did not respond to the FOIA request within the statutory time period and still had yet to respond. The plaintiff alleged that this conduct was a wrongful delay of release of records in violation of FOIA.

A status report filed on August 21, 2018 indicated the parties were attempting to avoid litigation and that the government would conduct the necessary searches for responsive records.

On June 28, 2019, CAIR-Chicago voluntarily dismissed the suit without explanation. Presumably, the parties resolved the disputes related to the records and the defendants provided the records to CAIR-Chicago. This case is closed.

Rebecca Strauss - 06/22/2018
Virginia Weeks - 08/26/2018
Gregory Marsh - 08/27/2020


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