UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AMERICAN IMMIGRATION LAWYERS ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff, Case No. 1:16-cv-02470 (TNM) v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION Seven years ago, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”) submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) for information on the inspection and admission process for entry into the United States. CBP has produced nearly 400 responsive documents. After earlier efforts by the Court and the parties to narrow the dispute, the sole remaining issue is whether CBP properly withheld information in a few dozen documents under FOIA’s law enforcement exemption, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(E). Before the Court are the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. For the following reasons, both motions will be granted in part and denied in part. I. Several years ago, the Inspector Field Manual (“IFM”) was the “primary reference tool” that CBP officers used for the inspection and admission process for entry into this country. See Pl.’s Resps. to Defs.’ Statement of Material Facts ¶ 1, ECF No. 55-1. The IFM covered “inadmissibility issues, standards for admission, and acceptable evidence,” as well as details on the inspection process. Id. ¶ 2 (cleaned up). But in 2013, CBP discontinued the IFM and sought to develop a new manual, the Officers Reference Tool (“ORT”). Decl. of James Ryan Hutton ¶¶ 4–5, ECF No. 16-2. Like the IFM, the ORT will serve as a “comprehensive ‘how to’ manual detailing official CBP policies and procedures for CBP’s admissibility mission.” Id. ¶ 5. Currently, the ORT only consists of two indexes designated as Chapters 11 and 12. Id. ¶ 6. There are no other chapters in the ORT. The Chapter 11 index includes hyperlinks to “various policies, memoranda, guides, manuals, and musters,” while the Chapter 12 index includes hyperlinks to “laws, regulations, and government systems that govern the admissibility of passengers at [U.S.] ports of entry.” Id. ¶¶ 7–8. Chapter 12 also contains hyperlinks to internal resources such as CBP’s Policy Online Document Search (“PODS”). Third Decl. by Patrick Howard ¶ 28, ECF No. 43-2. In 2013, AILA submitted a FOIA request seeking records about the instructions provided to the field/ports-of-entry on the discontinuation of the IFM and implementation of the ORT. See Compl. for Decl. & Inj. Relief (“Compl.”) Ex. A at 2–3, ECF No. 1-1. 1 AILA also requested a “complete copy of the portions of the ORT that have been finalized and implemented for use in the field/ports-of-entry.” Id. at 3. AILA did not receive a response so it filed this action against CBP and its parent agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (collectively, the “Government”). See Compl. CBP first produced a 25-page online index of ORT Chapter 11, a one-page index of ORT Chapter 12, and two records related to the discontinuation of the IFM. See Decl. of Betsy Lawrence ¶¶ 2–3, ECF No. 19; id. Exs. B, C, and D. But it did not search or produce any of ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals