Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced today that Oregon has joined nine other attorneys general in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for its failure to respond to a request for information relating to the detention and deportation of immigrants. The complaint, filed today in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, says that the states are demanding records to which they have a legal right and that the federal agencies have not responded to the requests within the required time period.

“We value transparency in Oregon—and we should demand the same from the federal government,” said Attorney General Rosenblum. “Americans have the right to know how many immigrants have been arrested—and how many have been detained—and we should be able to review that critical information in an expedited manner.”

In June, the coalition of 10 attorneys general submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), seeking details regarding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) arrests and/or detentions of individuals at sensitive locations, and ICE or CBP detainer requests and databases. Sensitive locations can include schools, places of worship and hospitals.

The states involved in the lawsuit include: Massachusetts, California, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia.

Contact:

Kristina Edmunson, Department of Justice, Kristina.Edmunson@doj.oregon.gov, 503-378-6002