Immigrant Defense Project v. United States Immigration

208 F. Supp. 3d 520, 2016 WL 5339542, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130580
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 23, 2016
Docket14-CV-6117 (JPO)
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 208 F. Supp. 3d 520 (Immigrant Defense Project v. United States Immigration) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Immigrant Defense Project v. United States Immigration, 208 F. Supp. 3d 520, 2016 WL 5339542, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130580 (S.D.N.Y. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

J. PAUL OETKEN, District Judge

The Immigrant Defense Project, the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, and the Center for Constitutional Rights (collectively “Plaintiffs”) bring this action against United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) and the United States Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) (together “Defendants”) under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552 et seq. Plaintiffs seek information related to ICE’s enforcement and arrest operations at homes and residences. (Dkt. No. 31 at 1.) Following initial discord over Defendants’ production of records, the Court directed Defendants to produce documents on a rolling deadline. (Dkt. No. 15.) Pursuant to that order, Defendants have produced approximately 8,500 pages of responsive documents. (Dkt. No. 38 at 1.) The parties now cross-move for partial summary judgment on the adequacy of Defendants’ search.

For the reasons that follow, Plaintiffs’ motion is granted in part and denied in part, and Defendants’ motion is granted in part and denied in part.

I. Factual Background

On October 17, 2013, Plaintiffs submitted a FOIA request to Defendants. (Dkt. No. 1 ¶ 2 (“Compl.”); Dkt. No. 1-1, Ex. 1.) The request sought “electronic or written” records related to ICE “home raids” or “home enforcement operations,” which Plaintiffs defined as entries, arrests, or other enforcement actions carried out “in, at, or around homes or residences.” (Dkt. No. 1-1, Ex. 1 at 2-3.) The request ex[525]*525pressed particular interest in operations conducted in specific counties in New York and Alabama (id. at 8), as well as Defendants’ policies and practices more generally (Dkt. No. 31 at 2). Initially, Defendants produced just twenty-six pages of “heavily redacted” documents from a single component of DHS. (Dkt. No. 31 at 3.) After exhausting FOIA’s administrative process, Plaintiffs filed this suit on August 5, 2014, seeking an order from the Court directing Defendants to search for and to disclose all responsive records. (See Compl. ¶¶ 1, 50, 61.)

The Court, with guidance from the parties, set out a rolling production schedule, directing Defendants to turn over responsive documents. (Dkt. No. 15.) Pursuant to that order, Defendants produced approximately 8,500 pages of responsive records. (Dkt. No. 38 at 1.) Plaintiffs again protested that Defendants had not fulfilled their obligations under FOIA and that responsive documents remained outstanding. (Dkt. No. 16.) At a status conference on August 4, 2015, the Court directed Defendants to provide declarations from agency personnel describing their searches. (Dkt. No. 24 at 19.)

Following several declarations from Defendants (Dkt Nos. 32-2, 32-3, 32-4, 32-5), continued protests by Plaintiffs regarding the sufficiency of production, and failed negotiations between the parties, Plaintiffs filed for partial summary judgment on the adequacy of Defendants’ searches (Dkt. No. 31 at 3-4). Defendants filed a cross-motion on the same question (Dkt. No. 38) and, with the Court’s permission, provided supplemental declarations describing their search efforts to date (see Dkt. Nos. 29, 39, 40, 41, 42). The parties agreed to defer briefing on the question of any applicable statutory exemptions that might excuse Defendants’ production of responsive documents. (Dkt. No. 24 at 8-9,11, 20.)

II. Discussion

Summary judgment is warranted when “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). A fact is material if it “might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A dispute is genuine if, considering the record as a whole, a rational jury could find in favor of the non-moving party. Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557, 586, 129 S.Ct. 2658, 174 L.Ed.2d 490 (2009) (citing Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986)). “Challenges to a government agency’s response are usually resolved at summary judgment in FOIA actions.” Det. Watch Network v. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enf't, No. 14 Civ. 583, 2016 WL 3926451, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. July 14, 2016) (citing Carney v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 19 F.3d 807, 812 (2d Cir. 1994)).

FOIA’s purpose is “to ensure public access to information created by the government in order ‘to hold the governors accountable to the governed.’ ” Tigue v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 312 F.3d 70, 76 (2d Cir. 2002) (quoting N.L.R.B. v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co., 437 U.S. 214, 242, 98 S.Ct. 2311, 57 L.Ed.2d 159 (1978)). “Specifically, FOIA requires that ‘each agency, upon any request for records which (A) reasonably describes such records and (B) is made in accordance with published rules, shall make the records promptly available to any person.’ ” Halpem v. FBI, 181 F.3d 279, 286 (2d Cir. 1999) (internal alteration omitted) (quoting 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)). FOIA prioritizes “disclosure, not secrecy,” Dep’t of Air Force v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352, 361, 96 S.Ct. 1592, 48 L.Ed.2d 11 (1976), and, in a summary [526]*526judgment motion, puts the burden on the government agency resisting disclosure to demonstrate “that its search was adequate,” Carney, 19 F.3d at 812 (citing EPA v. Mink, 410 U.S. 73, 79, 93 S.Ct. 827, 35 L.Ed.2d 119 (1973); 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B)).

A withholding agency that has fulfilled its substantive obligation to produce responsive documents under FOIA can demonstrate the adequacy of its search at the summary judgment stage through the submission of detailed declarations describing the search procedures used.1 Carney, 19 F.3d at 812. As an initial matter, in this case, the declarations—together with their supplements—are sufficiently specific for the Court to judge the reasonableness of the underlying search.2 The discussion that follows therefore focuses on whether the search, as described in the submitted declarations, discharged Defendants’ duties under FOIA.

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Bluebook (online)
208 F. Supp. 3d 520, 2016 WL 5339542, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130580, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/immigrant-defense-project-v-united-states-immigration-nysd-2016.