Mayock v. Immigration & Naturalization Service

714 F. Supp. 1558, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6920, 1989 WL 67480
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJune 16, 1989
DocketC-85-5169-CAL
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 714 F. Supp. 1558 (Mayock v. Immigration & Naturalization Service) 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
Mayock v. Immigration & Naturalization Service, 714 F. Supp. 1558, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6920, 1989 WL 67480 (N.D. Cal. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

LEGGE, District Judge.

Plaintiff James R. Mayock is an immigration attorney. He originally filed this suit to require the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) to comply with certain Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, (FOIA) requests which he made on behalf of clients. Many of the clients were involved in deportation or exclusion proceedings and were faced with immediate deportation. Plaintiff requested a permanent injunction: (1) requiring the INS to release certain requested FOIA informa *1560 tion, (2) staying deportation or exclusion proceedings pending compliance with FOIA requests, and (3) requiring the INS to comply with the FOIA requests within the 10-day period provided by statute.

In earlier proceedings in this case, the specific FOIA requests were resolved by the parties and by the court. This case has become a “pattern and practice” case. That is, plaintiff contends that the INS has a pattern and practice of failing to produce certain categories of FOIA information, and of failing to comply with FOIA requests within the statutory 10-day period. Plaintiff claims that this pattern and practice deprives his clients and other aliens of information necessary to enable them to resist deportation before they are actually deported and their requests are rendered moot.

The INS deportation procedures are governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b). This statute provides that an alien has the right to present evidence, and to receive a “reasonable opportunity to examine the evidence against him.” However, there are no discovery procedures provided by the INS regulations. 1 FOIA is essentially the only procedure which aliens can use to obtain from the INS information relevant to their cases.

This case was originally filed by certain named aliens represented by Mayock. However, the issues regarding those named plaintiffs have been resolved, and plaintiff Mayock now prosecutes this case in his own name. In an order dated July 6, 1988, this court determined that Mayock had standing to continue the suit and that the claims are not moot.

Plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment and injunctive relief. The INS responded with its own motion for summary judgment. The court reviewed the moving and opposing papers, the record of the case, the arguments of counsel, and the applicable authorities, and concluded that certain decisions could be made as a matter of law and with no genuine issue of material fact. The court prepared a draft opinion and gave notice to the parties of its intended decision. A hearing was held on the draft opinion and intended decision, and the court heard additional arguments and authorities from counsel. The court also received a supplemental fact record which dealt primarily with the current practices of the INS regarding the procedures at issue in this case.

This court is of the opinion that the decisions set forth below can be made as a matter of law and with no genuine issues of material fact.

I.

Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief requiring the INS to 1) make a determination on an alien’s FOIA requests within ten working days of receipt, 2) give notice if a ten working day extension of time is required, 3) search certain electronic data systems in response to FOIA requests for “all records,” and 4) sufficiently describe the documents withheld from production and correlate the withheld documents with the statutory FOIA exemptions.

The usual FOIA case requests the district court to review an agency’s denial of a specific request for information. And procedures have been developed for handling such requests on a case-by-case basis, resulting in a grant or denial of specific requests by the district court.

*1561 However, broader injunctive relief is available to enforce FOIA under certain circumstances. Long v. United States Internal Revenue Service, 693 F.2d 907 (9th Cir.1982). Payne Enterprises v. United States, 837 F.2d 486 (D.C.Cir.1988). Those cases granted injunctive relief against agencies which had a “pattern and practice” of withholding FOIA information, and then releasing the information after a FOIA suit was filed. After deciding that equitable remedies were available under FOIA, the Ninth Circuit in Long held as follows:

In utilizing its equitable powers to enforce the provisions of the FOIA, the district court may consider injunctive relief where appropriate. Moreover, where the district court finds a probability that alleged illegal conduct will recur in the future, an injunction may be framed to bar future violations that are likely to occur.
In determining whether injunctive relief is appropriate to resolve a FOIA dispute, the court’s prime consideration should be the effect on the public of disclosure or nondisclosure.... Where, as here, there has been a voluntary cessation of allegedly illegal conduct and thereafter prolonged delays have repeatedly hindered the timely disclosure of non-exempt documents, the district court should seriously consider the likelihood of recurrence, weighing the good faith of any expressed intent to comply, the effectiveness, if any, of the discontinuance and the character of past violations .... Once the district court has fully performed its duties ... and has exercised its discretion in granting or denying injunctive relief, its decision will be overturned only if it relied on erroneous legal principles or abused its discretion.

Id. at 909 (citations omitted).

II.

Plaintiff has submitted his own declaration and those of other immigration attorneys, which show that the INS’s delays in providing FOIA replies are often several months, instead of the 10 days required by the statute. They cite several examples of FOIA information that was received from the INS too late to be used in the aliens’ deportation or exclusion proceedings, and which might have made a difference to the outcome. (Declarations of Mayock, Brooks, and Van der Hout). These declarations also state that the local INS office has no procedures for giving preference to requests for information that is urgently needed in deportation proceedings. The declaration of Tony Ju, submitted by the INS, states that the urgency of the requests is considered by the INS, but there are no implementing procedures to give priority to these requests systematically, or to assure that responses are made before the deportation or exclusion proceedings are concluded.

Plaintiff has presented substantial and uncontroverted evidence that lengthy delays are systematic, 2 and that aliens have been excluded or deported before the INS’s FOIA replies are received. There is also no dispute as to the form in which the INS office denies requests for information.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
714 F. Supp. 1558, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6920, 1989 WL 67480, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mayock-v-immigration-naturalization-service-cand-1989.