UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ROLANDO JIMENEZ, Plaintiff, v. Case No. 17-cv-2731 (CRC) ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, Defendant. MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiff Rolando Jimenez is currently employed as an Immigration Officer in the Immigrant Investor Program Office within the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). PSOMF ¶ 2. Jimenez alleges that his superiors at the agency discriminated against him on the basis of his race, age, and national origin, and retaliated against him for filing EEO complaints. The Court previously dismissed many of Mr. Jimenez’s claims for either failure to exhaust administrative remedies or failure to state a claim. Jimenez v. McAleenan, 395 F. Supp. 3d 22 (D.D.C. 2019) (Jimenez I). The Court also granted summary judgment to DHS on Jimenez’s claims that the agency passed him over for numerous positions for discriminatory or retaliatory reasons. Jimenez v. Wolf, No. 17-CV-2731 (CRC), 2020 WL 12895803 (D.D.C. Sept. 24, 2020) (Jimenez II). This left one claim standing: that in 2015, Jimenez’s supervisors denied his request to access to the Homeland Security Data Network (“HSDN”)—an agency information system used to share sensitive information—in retaliation for his earlier EEO complaints. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 82–89. The parties have engaged in discovery related to this final claim. The government now moves for summary judgment. Finding no genuine dispute of material fact, the Court will grant the motion. I. Background Rolando Jimenez began working for the predecessor agency of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) in 1996. From 2006 to October 2016, Jimenez was an Immigration Officer in the National Security Branch/Division of the Fraud Detection National Security Directorate (“FDNS”) of USCIS. Plaintiff’s Statement of Material Facts (“PSOMF”), ECF No. 66-1, at ¶ 1. FDNS’s mission is to determine whether individuals and organizations applying for immigration benefits might pose a national security risk. PSMOF ¶ 3. Given their national security implications, FDNS cases sometimes involved classified information. One of the systems used in DHS to store and share such information (up to the “secret” level) is the Homeland Security Data Network (“HSDN”). PSMOF ¶ 5. To be granted access to HSDN—or any classified records system—an employee must have (i) the appropriate level of security clearance, (ii) a current or imminent “need to know,” and (iii) the ability to safeguard the accessed information. PSMOF ¶ 4. Jimenez was granted access to HSDN in 2012 due to his work responsibilities. Plaintiff’s Opp. at 3, ECF No. 66. In 2014, Jimenez began a two-year temporary detail with INTERPOL. While on detail, his access to HSDN was automatically suspended because he had not logged into the system in 30 days. Opp. at 1–2; DSMOF at ¶ 3 n.2. In 2015, Jimenez’s INTERPOL detail was abruptly terminated (approximately 15 months early) and he returned to his job at FDNS on June 17, 2015. PSMOF at ¶¶ 4–6. The record indicates Mr. Jimenez’s detail was terminated early because of a concern that he violated INTERPOL’s policy on dissemination of sensitive information. PSMOF ¶ 18; Def’s Ex. 10 (email from Bernard Graham). …
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