Roseberry-Andrews v. Dep't of Homeland Sec.

299 F. Supp. 3d 9
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedMarch 13, 2018
DocketCivil Action No. 16–63 (TJK)
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 299 F. Supp. 3d 9 (Roseberry-Andrews v. Dep't of Homeland Sec.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Roseberry-Andrews v. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 299 F. Supp. 3d 9 (D.C. Cir. 2018).

Opinion

TIMOTHY J. KELLY, United States District Judge

Plaintiff Cynthia L. Roseberry-Andrews, proceeding pro se , has filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 U.S.C. § 552, seeking certain records from the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS" or "Defendant") regarding her employment with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") Freedom of Information Act Office (the "ICE FOIA Office"). Defendant has moved for summary judgment, arguing that it has conducted a reasonable search of its records and produced all responsive, non-exempt information. Roseberry-Andrews has cross-moved for summary judgment, alleging that Defendant did not conduct a proper search, was dilatory in responding, did not properly apply FOIA exemptions, and failed to comply with FOIA's "segregability" requirement. The Court agrees with Defendant on many of the issues raised by the parties, but ultimately concludes that Defendant has failed to provide sufficient evidence that the ICE FOIA Office conducted an adequate search or complied with FOIA's "segregability" requirement. Thus, Defendant's motion for summary judgment will be granted in part and denied in part, with leave granted to file a renewed motion within 60 days. Accordingly, the Court will reserve judgment in part and deny in part Roseberry-Andrews' cross-motion for summary judgment.

I. Background

A. Roseberry-Andrews' FOIA Request and Lawsuit

On December 29, 2014, Roseberry-Andrews filed a FOIA request with the ICE FOIA Office. See ECF No. 1 ("Orig. Compl.") Ex. 1 at 8-9.1 The request sought information pertaining to her employment in that same ICE FOIA Office from eight different program offices within DHS. Id. at 8. Those offices were: (1) the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor ("OPLA"); (2) the ICE FOIA Office; (3) the ICE Privacy Office; (4) "HR [Human Resources]"; (5) "EEO [Equal Employment Opportunity]"; (6) "Reasonable Accommodation"; (7) the Office of Employee and Labor Relations ("ELR"); and (8) the Office of the Assistant Secretary ("OAS"). Id.2 Roseberry-Andr *16ews also listed the names of individual employees in the ICE FOIA and ELR offices from whom she requested records. Id.

That same day, ICE confirmed receipt of Roseberry-Andrews' FOIA request. Orig. Compl. Ex. 1 at 11; ECF No. 14 ("Am. Compl.") ¶ 10. On December 31, ICE followed up with a formal acknowledgment letter and assigned her request a case number. Orig. Compl. Ex. 1 at 12-13; Am. Compl. ¶ 11; ECF. No. 22-1 ("Def.'s SoMF") at 2. The acknowledgement letter also stated that, "[a]lthough ICE's goal is to respond within 20 business days of receipt of your request," FOIA permits, and ICE would invoke, a 10-day extension because Roseberry-Andrews' request "seeks numerous documents that will necessitate a thorough and wide-ranging search." Orig. Compl. Ex. 1 at 12 (citing 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B) ).

On November 13, 2015, having not heard or received anything further from the government, Roseberry-Andrews filed an administrative appeal. Id. at Ex. 2; Am. Compl. ¶ 11; Def.'s SoMF at 2. ICE received the appeal on the same day. Def.'s SoMF at 7. On December 21, 2015, ICE remanded the appeal to the ICE FOIA Office to complete processing of her FOIA request. Id. at 2.

On January 13, 2016, Roseberry-Andrews filed this lawsuit against Catrina Pavlik-Keenan, an ICE FOIA Officer. Orig. Compl. On April 20, 2016, she filed an amended complaint, replacing Pavlik-Keenan with Jeh Johnson, then the Secretary of DHS, as the defendant. Am. Compl. The amended complaint asserts that Roseberry-Andrews did not receive the records she seeks and requests wide-ranging relief, including damages, injunctive relief, declaratory relief, and attorney's fees. Id. at 20.

B. DHS's FOIA Productions

Although the ICE FOIA Office collected responsive records from the various program offices, it was also a subject of Roseberry-Andrews' request. Therefore, to ensure objectivity in reviewing and processing the records, it handed over responsibility for these tasks to the DHS FOIA Office. Def.'s SoMF at 9-10. On July 1, 2016, Defendant produced 1,826 pages to Roseberry-Andrews. Id. at 10. On July 24, Plaintiff provided Defendant's counsel a list of redactions and withholdings that she did not dispute, which the parties agreed would not be included on Defendant's Vaughn Index during summary judgment briefing. Id. at 10.

After Defendant's production to Roseberry-Andrews, it discovered that some documents had been released without certain necessary redactions, and clawed the production back to include them. Id. On August 16, 2016, Defendant reproduced the same 1,826 pages to Roseberry-Andrews with additional redactions. Id. In October 2016, Defendant represented to Roseberry-Andrews that, during the course of preparing its Vaughn index, it determined that some redactions should be removed and that it would provide her with a replacement release. Id. Ultimately, of the 1,826 pages Defendant produced to Roseberry-Andrews, 601 pages were withheld in full and 867 pages redacted.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Untitled Case
D. Connecticut, 2026
Smith v. Bharara
S.D. New York, 2021

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
299 F. Supp. 3d 9, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roseberry-andrews-v-dept-of-homeland-sec-cadc-2018.