The lawsuit comes amid violent protests against ICE’s immigration enforcement operations.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), seeking to compel the agency to disclose records related to specific operations, according to the complaint filed on Oct. 1.
The lawsuit, filed jointly by the ACLU and its Virginia and North Carolina affiliates in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, concerns the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
According to the lawsuit, ICE issued a request for information (RFI) on May 28, seeking information on available detention facilities capable of housing single adult populations to support the agency’s Washington field office.
An RFI is issued to gather information regarding services or products from suppliers. In this case, ICE wanted information on detection facilities. While ICE owns five detention facilities, it relies on private prison companies and other facilities to detain a majority of people in its custody, the lawsuit states.
On Aug. 8, plaintiffs submitted a FOIA request to ICE, asking for records of responses to the agency’s RFI.
“[The FOIA] was enacted to facilitate public access to government documents,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit states that the basic purpose of FOIA is to “ensure an informed citizenry, vital to the functioning of a democratic society, needed to check against corruption and to hold the governors accountable to the governed.”
With this aim in mind, the FOIA statute requires that federal agencies such as ICE disclose records within 20 working days, according to the lawsuit.
An additional 10-day extension for processing may be provided under certain circumstances.
However, “more than 30 working days have passed” since plaintiffs filed the request, and there has been no response from ICE with regard to providing the records, the complaint states, noting that the statutory time period has elapsed.
“Plaintiffs have exhausted all administrative remedies regarding ICE’s failure to respond to the Request,” the complaint states.
ACLU and its affiliates asked the court to order ICE to process and release the necessary records.
The ACLU lawsuit comes amid protests and instances of violence against ICE’s immigration enforcement operations and the officials carrying them out.
