On August 3, 2018, the Human Rights Defense Center filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The plaintiff sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Freedom of Information Act. In March 2018, the plaintiff had requested from ICE certain records related to litigation against the organization. The plaintiff appealed ICE’s denial of its records request to the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, but had not received a response to the appeal by the time it filed the complaint. The plaintiff alleged that ICE wrongly withheld documents responsive to its properly submitted request in violation of the Freedom of Information Act. The plaintiff sought declaratory relief, as well as an order that ICE disclose the requested records and attorneys’ fees. The case was assigned to Judge Thomas S. Zilly.

On August 7, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint to note that the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor had emailed a final denial of the appeal on August 6.

On March 15, 2019, the parties submitted a joint status report in which the defendants acknowledged that the plaintiffs were entitled to the requested records subject to exceptions delineated in the Freedom of Information Act. The parties noted that they had conferred regarding a rolling production schedule. Although the court set a trial date for December 2, 2019, the parties noted in their joint status report that the case will most likely be resolved by motions practice.

On February 14, 2020, the parties requested that the court continue the trial until after ICE's anticipated completion of its production of documents in response to plaintiffs' FOIA request. The motion states that "the parties agreed on a rolling production schedule where ICE processes 500 pages per month" and that ICE anticipates production through October 2020. The parties also submitted a proposed briefing schedule to begin in December 2020, but the parties stated that the case will most likely be resolvedd without the need for a trial. Judge Zilly granted the parties' motion on February 18; plaintiff's dispositive motion is due December 18, 2020 and a bench trial is set for April 26, 2021.

Eva Richardson - 05/22/2019
Aaron Gurley


compress summary