UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING, Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 1:18-cv-01964 (CJN) U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiff Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) submitted two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to Defendant Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seeking arrest records of ICE detainees. See CIR E-Mail of Apr. 17, 2017 (“CIR Request 1”) (citing 5 U.S.C. § 552), ECF No. 18-3; CIR E-Mail of Apr. 19, 2017 (“CIR Request 2”), ECF No. 18-4. Having narrowed the issues, both Parties now seek summary judgment on a single question: whether the categorical withholding of detainees’ names from ICE arrest records is justified under FOIA’s privacy exemptions. See generally Defs.’ Mot. for Summary Judgment (“Defs.’ Mot.”), ECF No. 18; Pl.’s Mot. for Summary Judgment (“Pl.’s Mot.”), ECF No. 19. The Court concludes that ICE has properly withheld that information. I. Background CIR is a “nonprofit investigative journalism organization.” Compl. ¶ 2. On April 17, 2017, it submitted a FOIA request seeking: All entries in the “DHS/Immigration and Enforcement (ICE)-011 Criminal Arrest Records and Immigration Enforcement Records (CARIER) System of Records” for each arrest record maintained by 1 the CARIER system for fiscal year 2015 to present, with a breakdown by field office, fiscal year and arrest date. CIR Request 1 at 1. It also requested that the records contain several types of information, including nationality, immigration history, education history, and criminal history. Id. Two days later, CIR submitted a second FOIA request seeking: All entries in the “DHS/Immigration and Enforcement (ICE)-011 Criminal Arrest Records and Immigration Enforcement Records (CARIER) System of Records” for each arrest record maintained by the CARIER system for January 1, 2017 to the present, with a breakdown by field office, fiscal year and arrest date, and including [the a]mount of bond posted [and d]ata about persons who post or arrange an immigration bond for the release of an individual from ICE custody including . . . [f]ull [n]ame; [a]ddress; [p]hone numbers; [and o]ther information. CIR Request 2 at 1. Over a month later, ICE responded to acknowledge the requests, consolidate them, and assign a FOIA control number. See ICE E-Mail of Jun. 1, 2017, ECF No. 18-5. Nearly five months later, ICE reported that it had “conducted a search . . . for records responsive to [the] request and no records responsive to [the] request were found.” ICE Ltr. of Oct. 27, 2017 at 1, ECF No. 18-6. CIR appealed administratively, alleging that ICE had failed to conduct an adequate search of its records and did not provide CIR an opportunity to clarify its request before denying it. See CIR Ltr. of Nov. 2, 2017, ECF No. 18-7 at 1–6. ICE’s legal counsel reviewed the appeal, agreed to work with CIR to refine the search terms, and remanded to the FOIA office to conduct a new search for documents. See ICE Ltr. of Dec. 5, 2017, ECF No. 18-8. Nothing happened for months, so CIR ...
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