ACLU NorCal v. ICE (FOIA action seeking grievance logs)

In 2023, the ACLU of Northern California launched a database that tracks the grievances filed at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Detention Centers across the state of California. These grievances provide an extensive record of the inhumane conditions that immigrants inside the facilities have long fought to publicize, including hazardous facilities, medical neglect, harassment, sleep deprivation, abuse of solitary confinement, and sexual assault. In connection with this project, ACLU NorCal submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to ICE requesting the grievance logs maintained at each detention facility in California. For several months ICE failed to respond or otherwise comply with the FOIA requests. As a result, in June 2023 we filed a lawsuit to compel production of these grievance logs. Production of materials from ICE is ongoing.  

Further information about the grievance database project can be found here. The aim of the database was to create a resource in California that will be accessible to all for detention-related advocacy. Our report, "Resistance, Retaliation, Repression: Two Years in California Immigration Detention," which analyzes hundreds of complaints filed by detained people through the grievance system, can be found here. We are in the process of transitioning the database and associated records to California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ), a close partner organization.