On July 9, 2018 plaintiff, the American Immigration Council, filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The plaintiff sued U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Represented by the American Immigration ...
read more >
On July 9, 2018 plaintiff, the American Immigration Council, filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The plaintiff sued U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Represented by the American Immigration Council and Dorsey & Whitney, the plaintiff brought their claim under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The plaintiff brought three claims under FOIA: Failure to Conduct an Adequate Search for Responsive Records, Failure to Disclose Responsive Records, and Failure to Grant Plaintiff's Public Interest Fee Waiver Request. The case was assigned to Judge Amy Berman Jackson.
The FOIA request sought specific identified data regarding (a) each individual who was
apprehended by CBP, (b) each individual who was encountered by ICE, (c) each individual who was arrested by ICE, (d) each individual who was arrested by CBP, and (e) each individual who was removed or returned from the United States between January 1, 2016 and October 10, 2017.
On July 16, 2018 plaintiff filed an amended complaint reasserting the claims from the July 9th complaint.
After several joint status reports, the defendants moved for summary judgment on March 29, 2019. The plaintiffs filed a cross-motion for summary judgment on April 26, 2019. Judge Berman Jackson issued an order on the motions for summary judgment on May 27, 2020, partially granting and denying both sides' motions. She granted the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment related to birthdates and identifying information on the spreadsheets ICE redacted in previous versions. She wrote that birthdates alone would not constitute a risk of identity theft, ICE's proffered reason for withholding the information. She granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment with regards to the location information of ICE stations, since this would tangentially provide information on staffing levels at various ICE posts across the country, a protected internal procedure under FOIA. As a result, ICE was instructed to resubmit documents with the identifying information provided. 2020 WL 2748515.
The case is ongoing.
Anna Belkin - 04/08/2018
Ellen Aldin - 06/08/2020
compress summary
