article: On June 29, 2017, the James Madison Project, Noah Shachtman, and Betsy Woodruff sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The James Madison Project (JMP) is an organization established in 1998 "to promote government accountability and the reduction of secrecy, as well as [to educate] the public on issues relating to intelligence and national security." Noah Schactman is the current Editor-in-Chief (previously the Executive Editor) of The Daily Beast, and Betsy Woodruff was a politics reporter for the publication at the time. Private counsel represented plaintiffs, who filed their complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Plaintiffs sought disclosure of agency records by DHS and its subordinate entities: the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Specifically, plaintiffs sought the disclosure of records clarifying the extent to which U.S. lawful permanent residents (LPRs) were coerced into surrendering their residency statuses, once DHS began implementing President Trump's Jan. 27 <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-02-01/pdf/2017-02281.pdf">Executive Order 13769</a> but before DHS stopped enforcing it on Feb. 4. According to plaintiffs, lawyers for some travelers affected by the EO claimed their clients were, during this implementation period, pressured to sign I-407 forms surrendering their LPR status. The complaint alleged that on Mar. 3, 2017, plaintiffs submitted a FOIA request to the defendant federal agencies seeking copies of records memorializing: 1. Instructions or guidelines – including verbal instructions memorialized in writing – provided to CBP officials with respect to agency practice for presenting I-407 forms to individuals impacted by the EO; 2. Communications between CBP officials – including verbal communications memorialized in writing – mentioning I-407 forms between Jan. 27 and Feb. 5; 3. Any documentation tabulating or calculating the number of individuals who signed I-407 forms between Jan. 27 and Feb. 5; 4. Copies of the actual I-407 forms signed between Jan. 27 and Feb. 5. The complaint further alleged that, to date, the plaintiffs had not received a substantive response from any of the defendant agencies, and that the plaintiffs had constructively exhausted all required administrative remedies. The plaintiffs sought a disclosure order under FOIA, legal fees, and expedited action. (Plaintiff James Madison Project also has two similar FOIA cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, summarized in this Clearinghouse: one by the Daily Beast against the Department of Justice (<a href="https://www.clearinghouse.net/detail.php?id=15676">NS-DC-0106</a>) and one by Politico against DHS (<a href="https://www.clearinghouse.net/detail.php?id=15678">NS-DC-0107</a>). On June 29, the case was assigned to Judge James E. Boasberg. On Sept. 7, the parties reported that USCIS and CBP were searching for records responsive to plaintiff's request and needed another month to prepare a list. On Oct. 10, the parties reported the following: TSA had located no responsive documents; USCIS had located no responsive records for some requests and had withheld responsive records for other requests due to privacy; and CBP had located a few responsive records. Judge Boasberg then ordered defendant (USCIS and CBP) to provide its first production of non-exempt portions of responsive records by Nov. 6 and its second production by Dec. 7. On Nov. 6, the parties reported that defendants were following the schedule ordered by Judge Boasberg. The following status report, of Jan. 5, 2018, noted that USCIS and CBP had both produced more responsive non-exempt records and informed plaintiff that the search was completed. The parties agreed to meet to confer on next steps. The Feb. 1 status report stated that the parties needed more time to discuss search declarations, before deciding whether to brief motions. A status report filed on Apr. 13 informed the Court that plaintiffs accepted TSA's productions and the sufficiency of USCIS's and CBP's searches, but would challenge denials and redactions of some of USCIS's and CBP's productions. Status reports filed October through December indicated the production was ongoing. Though the documents released by the government are not available online, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/border-patrol-ordered-to-block-congressmen-during-travel-ban">this news article</a> references some of their contents. On June 15, 2018, the defendants submitted a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the I-407 forms in question were exempt and properly withheld. The plaintiffs responded to the motion on July 16, claiming that the categorical refusal to produce the I-407 forms was improper and that their redactions were unjustified. After a conference call on October 3, the defendant submitted a status report on October 5, with the defendant’s agreement to respond to the plaintiff’s FOIA requests and a proposed schedule. The court, as agreed in the report, ordered the defendant to provide rolling productions every 60 days of the I-407 forms and a joint status report every 45 days. Production followed the next few months. On December 26, 2018, the defendant moved for a stay of production schedule due to lapse of appropriations, which resulted in a temporary prohibition of DOJ’s work. Two days later, the court granted the motion. According to the February 1, 2019 status report, the funding was restored and the defendants had completed their required production on December 18, 2018. The parties then continued to provide status reports regarding attorney fees. On April 19, 2019, the plaintiffs submitted a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice, and the court ordered dismissal the same day. The case is now closed.
summary: On June 29, 2017, the James Madison Project and journalists at the Daily Beast sued DHS under FOIA, seeking disclosure of records clarifying the extent to which LPRs were coerced into surrendering their residency statuses, once DHS began implementing President Trump's Jan. 27 EO but before DHS stopped enforcing it on Feb. 4. The defendants completed the FOIA productions and the case is now dismissed.