*Update: On June 24, 2025, government counsel made an additional production responsive to Innovation Law Lab’s FOIA request, which includes a three-page Detainee Transfer Checklist that outlines an individualized assessment that “must be completed for all transfers outside of [an] area of responsibility (AOR)”.*

In May 2024, Innovation Law Lab submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), specifically seeking any published guidelines for the initial placement and subsequent transfers of individuals in its custody in ICE detention facilities. More than eight months later, ICE had failed to release any documents to Innovation Law Lab.

The complaint, filed on January 13, 2025, seeks the public release and the proactive disclosure of the policies and practices that ICE uses to determine where to detain and/or transfer individuals in its custody. Understanding these processes is critical for impacted individuals, advocates, and the public to understand how the government makes decisions about noncitizens in government custody – and to ensure that individuals’ rights are respected in the process.

On April 4, 2025, Innovation Law Lab submitted a supplemental FOIA request regarding recent placement and transfer directives, including transfer directives and guidelines relating to people taken into custody during “high-profile” arrests to southern states, and any directive issued to or by ICE regarding the transfer of individuals to the Migrant Operations Center (MOC) at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay. Innovation Law Lab amended its complaint to encompass Defendants’ failure to respond to this additional request.

The lawsuit was filed in the District Court for the District of Oregon by attorneys from Innovation Law Lab and the Law Office of Amber Qureshi, LLC.