Filed Date: Oct. 13, 2017
Case Ongoing
Clearinghouse coding complete
On October 13, 2017, the Protect Democracy Project filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. According to the complaint, plaintiff is a nonprofit organization with a "mission is to protect our democracy from descending into a more autocratic form of government by preventing those in power from depriving Americans of a free, fair, and fully-informed opportunity to exercise ultimate sovereignty." As part of its mission, plaintiff aims to inform the public about executive branch activity, in part by filing FOIA requests and releasing the results on its website. Plaintiff was represented by its own counsel and the law firm Covington & Burling. The lawsuit was assigned to Judge Randolph D. Moss.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, plaintiff sought disclosure of agency records by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its component Customs and Border Protection (CBP), as well as the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), that would shed light on government policies and plans to hire new immigration enforcement personnel.
In his Jan. 25, 2017 Executive Order 13767 and Jan. 30, 2017 Executive Order 13768, President Trump directed DHS to hire 5,000 additional CBP agents and 10,000 additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. In order to meet these targets, plaintiff alleged, defendants intended to relax hiring standards and use independent contractors -- decisions that might "undermine the integrity of CBP and ICE and have negative consequences for border security."
The complaint alleged that on Aug. 4, 2017, plaintiff submitted a FOIA request to all four defendant agencies, seeking records related to the agencies' plans for addressing border enforcement and illegal immigration. The request to OPM specifically sought all documents, including communications, memoranda, assessments, and final determinations, related to DHS' requests for hiring authorities addressed in its 90-day progress report on EO 13767.
The complaint further alleged that, to date, plaintiff had not received a substantive response from any of the four defendant agencies. Plaintiff sought an expedited disclosure order under FOIA and sought legal fees.
On Oct. 24, plaintiff filed a notice in another case with the same name, stating that these two cases were related: Protect Democracy Project v. DHS, No. 1:17-cv-02202 (D.D.C. Oct. 24, 2017).
The parties filed a series of status reports, showing that the defendants had produced some records and the parties continued to confer on the request's scope and production's responsiveness. In the joint status report dated May 6, 2019, the parties agreed that defendants CBP and OPM have completed their planned productions, and the parties had agreed that defendants DHS and OMB need not make further productions. The parties indicated that they continue to confer regarding any attorneys’ fees. Accordingly, the court ordered that the OMB and DHS were no longer required to make future productions. The parties continued to discuss the calculation of attorneys’ fees and the plaintiff’s entitled amount. The most recent joint status report by the defendants on May 19, 2020 indicate that the discussion has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The next status report is due June 12, 2020.
This case is ongoing.
Summary Authors
Ava Morgenstern (5/5/2018)
Virginia Weeks (10/25/2018)
Averyn Lee (6/3/2020)
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6170125/parties/protect-democracy-project-inc-v-department-of-homeland-security/
Barnett, Kevin Travers (District of Columbia)
Benkato, Jamila G. (District of Columbia)
Andrapalliyal, Vinita B. (District of Columbia)
Baer, Michael Hendry (District of Columbia)
Bernie, Andrew Marshall (District of Columbia)
Barnett, Kevin Travers (District of Columbia)
Benkato, Jamila G. (District of Columbia)
Berwick, Benjamin Leon (District of Columbia)
Florence, Justin G. (District of Columbia)
Gore, Nikhil V. (District of Columbia)
Gugel, Helen (District of Columbia)
Iraola, David J. (District of Columbia)
Larrabee, Matthew Lloyd (District of Columbia)
Lawson, Dennis John (District of Columbia)
McPhee, Joan (District of Columbia)
Murphy, Allison F. (District of Columbia)
Passaro, Nicholas Andrew (District of Columbia)
Saperstein, Jennifer H. (District of Columbia)
Schwartzol, Laurence Michael (New York)
Schwartztol, Laurence Michael (New York)
Andrapalliyal, Vinita B. (District of Columbia)
Baer, Michael Hendry (District of Columbia)
Bernie, Andrew Marshall (District of Columbia)
Berns, Matthew Joseph (District of Columbia)
Bitran, Eva Lucia (District of Columbia)
Borson, Joseph Evan (District of Columbia)
Borum, Marian L. (District of Columbia)
Braswell, Marina Utgoff (District of Columbia)
Burnham, James Mahoney (District of Columbia)
Campbell, Rhonda Lisa (District of Columbia)
Cirino, Paul (District of Columbia)
Cohen, Jason Todd (District of Columbia)
Cohen, Bradley Heath (District of Columbia)
Coleman, John R. (District of Columbia)
Coles-Huff, Doris Denise (District of Columbia)
Crowley, Megan Anne (District of Columbia)
Davis, Kathryn Celia (District of Columbia)
Drezner, Michael Leon (District of Columbia)
Dugan, Joseph C. (District of Columbia)
Edney, Marsha Stelson (District of Columbia)
Field, Brian J. (District of Columbia)
Fresco, Leon (District of Columbia)
Gavoor, Aram A. (District of Columbia)
Girdharry, Glenn M. (District of Columbia)
Glover, Matthew J. (District of Columbia)
Haas, Alexander Kenneth (District of Columbia)
Hair, Christopher Charles (District of Columbia)
Hammond, Derek S. (District of Columbia)
Harris, Julie Straus (District of Columbia)
Hendry, Melanie Dyani (District of Columbia)
Horn, Daniel Franklin (District of Columbia)
Josephson, Matthew (District of Columbia)
Kelleher, Diane (District of Columbia)
Kelly, Wynne Patrick (District of Columbia)
Kidwell, Judith A. (District of Columbia)
Kirschner, Adam D. (District of Columbia)
Kolsky, Joshua M. (District of Columbia)
Konkoly, Antonia Marie (District of Columbia)
Kopplin, Rebecca Michelle (District of Columbia)
Lee, Jason (District of Columbia)
Lee, Lynn Yuhee (District of Columbia)
Leidenheimer, Robert E. (District of Columbia)
Levin, Scott Douglas (District of Columbia)
Liu, Jessie K. (District of Columbia)
Lopez-Morales, Cesar A. (District of Columbia)
Maier, Peter Rolf (District of Columbia)
McDaniel, Oliver W. (District of Columbia)
Merritt, R. Charlie (District of Columbia)
Moore, Tamra Tyree (District of Columbia)
Myers, Steven A. (District of Columbia)
Nebeker, William Mark (District of Columbia)
Nichols, Carl J. (District of Columbia)
Orloff, Serena Maya (District of Columbia)
Parker, Ryan Bradley (District of Columbia)
Patterson, Nicholas J. (District of Columbia)
Peterson, Benton Gregory (District of Columbia)
Pezzi, Stephen M. (District of Columbia)
Pfaffenroth, Peter C (District of Columbia)
Powell, Amy E. (District of Columbia)
Press, Joshua Samuel (District of Columbia)
Reuveni, Erez (District of Columbia)
RISNER, SCOTT (District of Columbia)
Robinson, Stuart Justin (District of Columbia)
Rogers, Joshua L. (District of Columbia)
Ross, Carl Ezekiel (District of Columbia)
Sandberg, Justin Michael (District of Columbia)
Seabrook, April Denise (District of Columbia)
Shapiro, Elizabeth J. (District of Columbia)
Sherwin, Michael R. (District of Columbia)
Shoaibi, Alexander Daniel (District of Columbia)
Shy, Dionne S. (District of Columbia)
Simon, Jeremy S. (District of Columbia)
Singer, Sam M. (District of Columbia)
Skurnik, Matthew Charles (District of Columbia)
Snell, Kevin Matthew (District of Columbia)
Sokolower, Heather G. (District of Columbia)
Sowles, Marcia Kay (District of Columbia)
Sroka, Scott Leeson (District of Columbia)
Sus, Nikhel (District of Columbia)
Taaffe, Damon William (District of Columbia)
Tiersky, Marcia N. (District of Columbia)
Tosini, Stephen C. (District of Columbia)
Tulis, Elizabeth Murray (District of Columbia)
Valdez, Darrell C. (District of Columbia)
Van Horn, Daniel F (District of Columbia)
WALL, SHEETUL S (District of Columbia)
Westmoreland, Rachael Lynn (District of Columbia)
Whitaker, Claire M. (District of Columbia)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6170125/protect-democracy-project-inc-v-department-of-homeland-security/
Last updated April 18, 2025, 12:44 p.m.
State / Territory: District of Columbia
Case Type(s):
Special Collection(s):
Trump Administration 1.0 & 2.0 FOIA cases
Trump Administration 1.0: Challenges to the Government
Key Dates
Filing Date: Oct. 13, 2017
Case Ongoing: Yes
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
A nonprofit organization seeking disclosure of executive branch records for public information
Plaintiff Type(s):
Non-profit NON-religious organization
Public Interest Lawyer: Yes
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Federal
U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal
U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Federal
Defendant Type(s):
Facility Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201
FOIA (Freedom of Information Act), 5 U.S.C. § 552
Available Documents:
Outcome
Prevailing Party: None Yet / None
Nature of Relief:
Source of Relief:
Issues
General/Misc.:
Staff (number, training, qualifications, wages)
Immigration/Border: