ICE Bond Policy FOIA Victory!

National Bail Fund Network et al. v. Immigration and Customs Enforcement et al.

"1. No later than 30 days following the Court’s approval of this Stipulation, Defendant U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) shall (1) send an instruction to each ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (“ERO”) field office asking them to provide any records that they maintain— apart from those that originated with ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, Bond Management Unit (“ERO-BMU”)—regarding bond processing or to confirm that they have none, and (2) search ERO-BMU for the following categories of documents: (i) records relating to directives and instructions to ICE field offices and employees regarding CeBonds; (ii) records relating to procedures, forms and instructions regarding in-person bond payments; and (iii) records relating to procedures, forms and instructions for physical release of a non-citizen, including instances in which physical release may be delayed, upon the posting of a bond via CeBonds (the “Supplemental Search”). Subject to any applicable FOIA exemptions, ICE shall release the processed records of the Supplemental Search, if any, to Plaintiffs no later than 60 days following the Court’s approval of this Stipulation. In exchange, Plaintiffs waive any challenge to the reasonableness, adequacy, or sufficiency of Defendants’ search for records sought in their June 24, 2022 letter to Defendants (Dkt. 1-1) and through the Supplemental Search. If Plaintiffs are dissatisfied with ICE’s withholdings in the Supplemental Search release, Plaintiffs shall raise those concerns to Defendants within 30 days of ICE’s final release of records processed from the Supplemental Search. ICE shall consider Plaintiffs’ challenges to withholdings in good faith and respond to Plaintiffs within 30 days from the time that Plaintiffs raise challenges to any withholdings.

2. No later than 30 days following the Court’s approval of this Stipulation, ICE will discretionarily release to Plaintiffs the information redacted pursuant to FOIA exemption b(5) in the document previously released to Plaintiffs as 2023-ICLI-00011_704.

3. No later than 30 days following the Court’s approval of this Stipulation, ICE will add a “Bond Processing” header to its FOIA Library webpage and make available under that header the documents released to Plaintiffs as 2023-ICLI-00011_567-642 and 2023-ICLI-00011_643-645. Upon request by Plaintiffs within 30 days of the re-release described in Paragraph 2 above, ICE will also make available under that header the document re-released as 2023-ICLI-00011_704. Plaintiffs reserve the ability to request that ICE make available under that header other records that are released pursuant to the Supplemental Search; ICE agrees to consider such requests without commitment of its response.

4. Defendants shall pay $15,000 (fifteen thousand dollars and zero cents) to Plaintiffs in full and complete satisfaction of Plaintiffs’ claims for attorneys’ fees, costs, and litigation expenses under the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552, as amended, in the above-captioned matter. This payment shall constitute full and final satisfaction of any and all of Plaintiffs’ claims for attorneys’ fees, costs, and litigation expenses that have been or will be incurred in the above-captioned matter, and is inclusive of any interest. Payment of this money will be made by one electronic funds transfer or check promptly after notification of the Court’s entry of this Stipulation and after receipt of necessary information from Plaintiffs in order to effectuate the payment. Defendants will make all reasonable efforts to make payment within thirty (30) days of the date that Plaintiffs’ counsel provides the necessary information for the electronic funds transfer and this Stipulation is approved by the Court, whichever is later, but cannot guarantee payment within that time frame."

[Hats off to Alison Pennington, Claudia Valenzuela, Manoj Govindaiah, Jessica Zhang, Emily Creighton, Raul Pinto, Yvette Changuin, Vanessa Rivas-Bernardy and Nikhel Sus!]