JC Fellow Christopher Opila filed a new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit
Justice Catalyst Fellow Christopher Opila at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) filed a new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against USCIS in December 2023.
The FOIA suit challenges the policies of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for unlawfully withholding application assessments, interview notes, and other records from clients’ case files. The suit seeks to vacate these policies so that IRAP can access the records to write timely and meaningful appeals for its current and future refugee clients.
IRAP represents refugees USCIS has denied admission to the United States in administrative appeals. As USCIS provides only boilerplate explanations for denials, IRAP files FOIA requests for clients’ case files to learn the factual findings and legal reasoning for their denials so it can prepare a viable appeal. USCIS, though, has policies of misapplying exemptions to records containing this and other relevant information, preventing IRAP from obtaining them within the appeal deadline.
Read more about the FOIA suit here.
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