Immigrant Defense Project v. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement
- Gabriel Gorenstein
- 1:19-cv-02520-GWG
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Immigrant Defense Project v. ICE, Judge Gorenstein indefinitely postponed the initial conference and required periodic status updates in the Freedom of Information Act case.
Immigrant Defense Project and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose initial pretrial conference was postponed indefinitely and who were required to provide status updates.
What happened
Immigrant Defense Project sued Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Freedom of Information Act for records about civil immigration arrests near courthouses. The parties reported that ICE had produced records and that the plaintiff needed more time to review them.
The parties asked to postpone the initial conference and submit a status letter by December 2, 2020. They said they might resolve any remaining issues without court involvement and might later seek rulings on summary judgment motions if needed.
Judge Gorenstein ordered that the initial conference be postponed indefinitely. The parties had to file a status letter by December 2, 2020, and then every three months if they agreed that the postponement should continue; either party could request a conference or briefing schedule in the meantime.
The detailed version
- Immigrant Defense Project v. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement · No. 1:19-cv-02520-GWG
- Gabriel Gorenstein
- Oct. 14, 2020
Background
Immigrant Defense Project brought this Freedom of Information Act case against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, seeking records related to civil immigration arrests near courthouses. The opinion states that the request was submitted on March 5, 2018, and that the complaint was filed on March 21, 2019. ICE answered that some responsive records were exempt from disclosure and made productions on May 29, 2019, and December 6, 2019.
After the productions, the parties discussed whether any issues remained. The plaintiff requested additional time, including because of the COVID-19 pandemic, to review the records and tell the government whether it believed further issues remained. The parties said they might resolve any remaining issues without court intervention. If they could not, they anticipated filing cross-motions for summary judgment, which are requests for the court to decide the dispute based on the record without a trial.
Order
The parties jointly requested a two-month postponement of the initial pretrial conference, asked to be excused from filing a case-management plan because the case would not involve discovery, and proposed filing a joint status letter by December 2, 2020. ICE alternatively requested a shorter postponement because government counsel had oral argument before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on October 13, 2020.
The court ordered that the initial pretrial conference be postponed indefinitely. It required the parties to file a status letter by December 2, 2020. If they agreed that the conference should remain postponed, they were required to file status letters every three months afterward. The parties could request a conference or briefing schedule at any time. The order did not decide the FOIA disclosure dispute or any exemption issue.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.