Department of Homeland Security to Release Records on COVID-19 Outbreaks in Detention Centers Following Suit from Immigrants’ Rights Clinic
Judge Orders DHS To Release Records Regarding COVID-19 Outbreaks
A Los Angeles federal judge today ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to release records regarding COVID-19 outbreaks at the Otay Mesa and Adelanto immigration detention centers and Border Patrol stations to a legal aid organization that sued to obtain the information.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II stems from a lawsuit filed in June under the Freedom of Information Act by Al Otro Lado and the Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School.
The judge directed DHS to process 1,000 pages per month, beginning immediately, stemming from the COVID-19-related FOIA requests. Wright wrote in his ruling that the information "is in the public interest."
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