Council Lawsuit Challenges USCIS Policies for Withholding Information in Refugee Case Files

This Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeks to compel U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) to end policies of unlawfully withholding application assessments, interview notes, and other records from refugees’ case files.

The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) and other advocates represent refugees denied admission to the United States in administrative appeals. When USCIS denies admission to applicants for refugee status, it provides only boilerplate explanations for its denials. Advocates must file FOIA requests to obtain their refugee clients’ case files to learn the factual findings and legal reasoning needed to prepare a viable appeal. USCIS, though, misapplies FOIA exemptions protecting information from disclosure to withhold records containing these findings and reasoning and other information as a matter of policy, preventing advocates from obtaining these records within the appeal deadline.

In December 2023, IRAP filed a lawsuit against USCIS to challenge these policies and obtain the necessary records to write timely and meaningful appeals for its current and future refugee clients. In February 2024, the Council joined the lawsuit as co-counsel.