Anguiano v. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement

356 F. Supp. 3d 917
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedDecember 21, 2018
DocketCase No.18-cv-01782-JSC
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 356 F. Supp. 3d 917 (Anguiano v. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anguiano v. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, 356 F. Supp. 3d 917 (N.D. Cal. 2018).

Opinion

JACQUELINE SCOTT CORLEY, United States Magistrate Judge

Plaintiff Ariel Cervantes Anguiano filed this action under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 ("FOIA"), seeking 12 categories of documents from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency ("ICE") for purposes of a motion to suppress he plans to bring in his removability proceedings pending in immigration court. (Dkt. Nos. 23 & 25.) The parties' cross-motions for summary judgment came before the Court for hearing on November 9, 2018. (Dkt. No. 31.) On November 13, 2018, the Court issued an order concluding that (1) ICE had failed to prove as a matter of law that its search was adequate in all respects; (2) the Court could not make a determination regarding ICE's invocation of Exemptions 5 and 7(E) without a review of certain documents in camera ; and (3) ICE properly invoked Exemption 6 and 7(C) to protect private information regarding third parties and ICE employees. (Dkt. No. 32.) The Court thus ordered ICE to submit a new declaration regarding its search and to submit certain documents in camera. ICE has done so. (Dkt. Nos. 33, 34.) Having considered the parties' prior briefing, the relevant legal authority, and the supplemental submissions, the Court concludes as follows.1

I. Adequacy of Search

"FOIA requires an agency responding to a request to demonstrate that it has conducted a search reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents." Hamdan v. U.S. Dep't of Justice , 797 F.3d 759, 770 (9th Cir. 2015) (internal citation and quotation marks omitted). To demonstrate "the adequacy of the search, the agency may rely upon reasonably detailed, nonconclusory affidavits submitted in good faith." Zemansky v. U.S. E.P.A. , 767 F.2d 569, 571 (9th Cir. 1985). In reviewing the *921adequacy of a search, the issue "is not whether there might exist any other documents possibly responsive to the request, but rather, whether the search for those documents was adequate." Lahr v. Nat'l Transp. Safety Bd. , 569 F.3d 964, 987 (9th Cir. 2009). "The adequacy of the agency's search is judged by a standard of reasonableness, construing the facts in the light most favorable to the requestor." Citizens Comm'n on Human Rights v. Food & Drug Admin. , 45 F.3d 1325, 1328 (9th Cir. 1995). "[T]he failure to produce or identify a few isolated documents cannot by itself prove the searches inadequate." Hamdan , 797 F.3d at 771. Summary judgment is inappropriate "if a review of the record raises substantial doubt, particularly in view of well-defined requests and positive indications of overlooked materials...." Hamdan , 797 F.3d at 771 (internal citation and quotation marks omitted); see also Animal Legal Def. Fund v. U.S. Food & Drug Admin. , 836 F.3d 987, 989-90 (9th Cir. 2016) ("there is no principled distinction to be drawn between our usual summary judgment standard and the standard to be applied in FOIA cases ... summary judgment may be granted only when there are no disputed issues of material fact, and thus no factfinding by the district court.").

Plaintiff raised three challenges to the adequacy of ICE's search: (1) that ICE unreasonably narrowed the scope of its search; (2) that ICE applied overly restrictive search terms to its searches; and (3) that ICE failed to conduct an adequate search for documents responsive to Request 12. The Court concluded that ICE's search was generally reasonable, but that ICE had failed to adequately explain its use of search terms and failed to demonstrate that it conducted a reasonable search for documents responsive to Request 12. (Dkt. No. 32 at 12.2 ) ICE has submitted a Second Supplemental Declaration from Ms. Pavlik-Keenan which explains the search terms used and scope of the search in response to Request 12. (Dkt. No. 34-1.)

With respect to the search terms, there were two issues: (1) ICE's failure to identify all the search terms used, and (2) the adequacy of the identified search terms. The Second Supplemental Pavlik-Keenan Declaration resolves the first issue. (Dkt. No. 34-1.) ICE has now provided Plaintiff with a complete list of the search terms used. (Id. at ¶ 5.) See People for the Am. Way Found. v. Nat'l Park Serv. , 503 F.Supp.2d 284, 293 (D.D.C. 2007) (collecting cases regarding the agency's obligation to provide the search terms used so that plaintiffs have sufficient information from which they can evaluate the adequacy of the search). As for the adequacy of the search terms, the Second Supplemental Pavlik-Keenan Declaration attests that the San Francisco Field Officers were directed to use the search terms that they reasonably believed would appear in the records they maintained. (Dkt. No. 34-1 at ¶ 6.) Each of the officers searched by Plaintiff's A-number, and five of the six officers searched for variants on Plaintiff's name, and four of the six searched for variants on the operation name. The Court is persuaded that the discrepancies in the search terms are not material given that they were based on the officers' "unique knowledge of the manner in which they keep their own files and the vocabulary they use." (Id. ) See Nat'l Immigration Law Ctr. v. United States Immigration & Customs Enf't , 2015 WL 12684437, at *6 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 11, 2015) (rejecting plaintiff's argument that individual ICE field office searches were inadequate *922because the declarations "explain[ed] in some detail" why the individual offices used the search terms they did.).

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Bluebook (online)
356 F. Supp. 3d 917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anguiano-v-us-immigration-customs-enforcement-cand-2018.