Case: ACLU v. ICE

[This summary is temporary while we research the case]. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLUF), and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU NorCal) filed this complaint on June 10, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The complaint alleged that since January 2025, the Trump administration dramatically escalated immigration enforcement operations nationwide while simultaneously engaging in a systematic pattern of retaliation against individuals who photographed, filmed, or published footage of those enforcement actions. Alleged retaliatory conduct included DHS agents threatening lethal force against peaceful observers, deploying tear gas and pepper balls against individuals recording enforcement activity, tackling and detaining bystanders, following observers to their homes, issuing administrative subpoenas to social media companies such as Meta/Instagram to obtain private account information of people documenting enforcement, and maintaining internal watchlists tracking protesters and individuals who recorded agents. On November 18, 2025, plaintiffs submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to all four defendant agencies seeking records about their policies and practices toward individuals who recorded immigration enforcement activity, but all four agencies allegedly failed to comply with FOIA's statutory deadlines, produce responsive records, or adjudicate plaintiffs' requests for fee waivers and expedited processing. Plaintiffs assert five claims under FOIA and seek court orders compelling the agencies to search for and produce responsive records, enjoining the withholding of records and the imposition of fees, granting expedited processing, and awarding costs and attorneys' fees.