UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GILBERTO RODRIGUEZ CHAVERRA, Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 18-289 (JEB) U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION Jeancarlo Alfonso Jimenez Joseph died last year in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, prompting his family to probe ICE for records that might shed light on the circumstances surrounding his death. Plaintiff Gilberto Rodriguez Chaverra, the administrator of Jimenez’s estate, first employed the Freedom of Information Act process. After coming up empty, he next made his request directly to the specific detention center — outside of the procedures afforded by FOIA — but fared no better. Chaverra then filed this suit against ICE, two other governmental entities, and one individual. In addition to FOIA claims, Plaintiff includes a cause of action under the Administrative Procedure Act and a Petition for Writ of Mandamus. These latter two counts are the subject of this litigation’s first volley. Defendants seek to dismiss them both, leaving the FOIA counts for another day. Because the law is clear that Plaintiff’s opportunity to seek redress through FOIA is an adequate remedy, the Court will grant Defendants’ Motion. 1 I. Background On May 15, 2017, while detained in ICE custody at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, Jimenez died in an apparent suicide. See ECF No. 1 (Compl.) at 2–3. According to the Complaint, Defendant had identified Jimenez as a suicide risk when he first arrived at the facility but nevertheless failed to afford him the necessary mental-health care and intervention. Id. at 2. Instead, Plaintiff says, ICE placed Jimenez in solitary confinement. Id. This unfortunate treatment spurred Jimenez’s family — led by Chaverra — to seek more information about the circumstances of his death. Id. Chaverra began his quest for information through FOIA. He filed a request with ICE seeking “all records, including medical, pertaining to” Jimenez. Id. at 8. In its final response, ICE withheld all responsive records in full under Exemption 7(A), which protects certain documents compiled for law-enforcement purposes during the pendency of proceedings. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(A). In the event Exemption 7(A)’s protection expires — i.e., the proceedings conclude — ICE reserved the right to assert Exemptions 6, 7(C), 7(D), 7(E), and 7(F). See Compl., Exh. D (ICE FOIA Response) at 1. Chaverra’s appeal to the agency of this determination proved unsuccessful. Id., Exh. G (ICE FOIA Appeal Response) at 1. Plaintiff next bypassed FOIA’s procedures and directly contacted the ICE Health Services Corps at the Stewart Detention Center, from whom he requested the same medical records. Id. at 12. This avenue, too, ended in a roadblock: ICE informed Chaverra that it would entertain a request for Jimenez’s medical records only via FOIA. Id. So Chaverra reverted once again to that process. He filed a number of additional requests seeking a broad range of documents from a variety of governmental entities. Id. at 9–12. The Court will save the 2 specifics of these requests for another occasion, when ...
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