Case Detail
| Case Title | Stevens v. United States Health and Human Services et al | |||||||||
| District | Northern District of Illinois | |||||||||
| City | Chicago | |||||||||
| Case Number | 1:2022cv05072 | |||||||||
| Date Filed | 2022-09-16 | |||||||||
| Date Closed | Open | |||||||||
| Judge | Honorable Matthew F. Kennelly | |||||||||
| Plaintiff | Jacqueline Stevens | |||||||||
| Defendant | United States Department Health and Human Services | |||||||||
| Defendant | United States Department of Homeland Security | |||||||||
| Defendant | United States Department Of Justice | |||||||||
| Defendant | Citizenship and Immigration Services | |||||||||
| Defendant | Immigration and Customs Enforcement | |||||||||
| Defendant | Customs and Border Protection | |||||||||
| Defendant | Executive Office of Immigration Review | |||||||||
| Appeal | Seventh Circuit 25-1126 | |||||||||
| Documents | Opinion/Order [34] Opinion/Order [53] Opinion/Order [102] Opinion/Order [103] Opinion/Order [121] FOIA Project Annotation: A federal court in Illinois has ruled that the Department of Homeland Security failed to conduct an adequate search for several FOIA requests submitted by Northwestern University professor Jacqueline Stevens. One FOIA request asked for contacts the agency had with Rep. Lauren Underwood or her staff about a bill she was sponsoring about an Electronic Health Record system at DHS. The second request to U.S. Customs and Border Protection asked for records concerning Toan Hoang, who was alleged to be a U.S. citizen that had been targeted for deportation. Stevens argued that CBP had failed to search for records about the agency's consideration of Underwood's bill. However, Judge Matthew Kennelly indicated that Stevens had asked for records in which the agency was a party to communications with Underwood. He noted that "despite Stevens' assertions to the contrary, H.R. 3525 was not the subject of part one of her original Underwood request." He o0bserved that "here, no reasonable trier of fact could find CBP's search terms were not reasonably calculated to yield responsive records. CBP searched the full name and last name of the Congresswoman that Stevens sought information about as well as multiple terms designed to locate information about the relevant subject matter, electronic health records." CBP failed to search for records about the second part of Stevens' Underwood request, arguing that responsive records would be with DHS alone. Kennelly faulted that decision, noting that "given that CBP is a 'component of DHS,' this request also encompasses materials that are created by CBP and sent to DHS, as well as materials that are developed by DHS and sent to CBP. CBP does not provide any factual or logical support for its determination that a request for materials exchanged between CBP and DHS could only be fulfilled through a search of DHS records." Kennelly ordered CBP to conduct a further search to satisfy his concerns. Kennelly also found CBP had not adequately identified an employee whose personal knowledge was sufficient to rely solely on her personal recollection in not conducting a further search. He noted that "CBP has provided no information about the employee, such as the duration of her tenure within the Procurement Office, that would allow this Court to assess the reasonableness of CBP's decision to rely solely on this employee's recollection." As to Stevens' request for records on Hoang, she argued that CBP should have provided his alien file. Kennelly pointed out that DHS regulations named USCIS as the custodian of alien files. He indicated that "this notice does support the proposition that CBP possesses all of the information that is included in an individual's A-file."
Issues: Adequacy - Search | |||||||||
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