UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA __________________________________________ ) NEW ORLEANS WORKERS’ CENTER ) FOR RACIAL JUSTICE, et al., ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) Civil Action No. 15-431 (RBW) ) UNITED STATES IMMIGRATION & ) CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, ) ) Defendant. ) __________________________________________) MEMORANDUM OPINION The New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice and eleven individual plaintiffs bring this civil action against the defendant, the United States Immigration & Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552 (2012), seeking, inter alia, records related to ICE’s Criminal Alien Removal Initiative (“CARI”). See Complaint (“Compl.”) ¶ 1. Currently pending before the Court are the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. See generally Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (“Def.’s Mot.”); Plaintiffs’ Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment (“Pls.’ Cross-Mot.”). Upon careful consideration of the parties’ submissions, 1 the Court concludes that it must deny the defendant’s motion and grant in part and deny in part the plaintiffs’ cross-motion. 1 In addition to the filings already identified, the Court considered the following submissions in rendering its decision: (1) the Defendant’s Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (“Def.’s Facts”); (2) the Memorandum of Law in Support of Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (“Def.’s Mem.”); (3) the Declaration of Fernando Pineiro in Support of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency’s Motion for Summary Judgment (“Pineiro Decl.”); (4) the Declaration of Paula Harrington in Support of the United States Immigration and Enforcement Agency’s Motion for Summary Judgment (“Harrington Decl.”); (5) the Plaintiffs’ Memorandum in Opposition to Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment and in Support of Plaintiffs’ Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment (“Pls.’ Opp’n”); (6) the Plaintiffs’ Statement of Issues and Response to Defendant’s Statement of Material (continued . . . ) I. BACKGROUND The following facts are undisputed by the parties, unless otherwise indicated. “On November 13, 2013, [the p]laintiffs submitted to [the d]efendant . . . [the] FOIA request” that is the subject of this civil action (the “Request”). Def.’s Facts ¶ 1; see Pls.’ Facts ¶ 1. “The [stated] purpose of the [R]equest [wa]s to obtain information for the public about . . . []CARI[] and other ICE programs related to community enforcement[,] . . . includ[ing] information on mobile fingerprint units and other technological tools at ICE’s disposal, and the collaboration between ICE and local law enforcement in the planning and carrying out of immigration enforcement actions.” Pineiro Decl., Ex. 1 (FOIA Request Re[:] CARI and New Orleans Community Raids and Request for Expedited Review (“Request”)) at 1. 2 Specifically, the Request sought records related to the following seven categories: (1) “the policies, procedures[,] or objectives of CARI,” id., Ex. 1 (Request) at 8; (2) the “[s]cope of CARI,” id., Ex. 1 (Request) at 9; (3) “[i]nformation on CARI [a]rrests,” id., Ex. 1 (Request) at 10; (4) “CARI’s [c]ost and [f]iscal [i]mpact,” id., Ex. 1 (Request) at 12; (5) “communications related to CARI by, to, or between” various government officials, id., Ex. 1 (Request) at 12; (6) “[a]ssessments ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals