Access to Counsel Before ICE FOIA

The Council filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to compel the release of records relating to noncitizens’ access to counsel before Immigration and Customs Enforement (ICE). The Council initially pursued disclosure of these records through FOIA requests filed in March 2011. Subsequently, ICE produced several thousand pages of documents, although most were evaluations of detention facilities that, in large part, did not address access to counsel. Many of the remaining records were heavily redacted or withheld entirely. Although the court held that ICE had properly withheld or redacted challenged records, it concluded that the agency still had not demonstrated that it conducted an adequate search. Pursuant to a settlement of the lawsuit, ICE agreed to conduct additional searches of its local offices.