National Lawyers' Guild San Francisco Chapter et al v. United States Department of Homeland Security et al

Filing 35

ORDER to Stay Proceedings thru and including 1/30/2010 re 33 Status Report, filed by Office of the Inspector General, Citizenship and Immigration Services, United States Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, United States Department of Homeland Security. Signed by Judge Charles R. Breyer on 11/10/09. (be, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 11/12/2009)

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TONY WEST Assistant Attorney General JOHN R. TYLER Assistant Branch Director ERIC B. BECKENHAUER, CSBN 237526 Trial Attorney U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch 20 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington, DC 20530 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail] Attorneys for Defendants IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION NATIONAL LAWYERS' GUILD SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER, et al., Plaintiffs, v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, et al., Defendants. / No. C 08-5137 CRB JOINT STATUS REPORT AND STIPULATION TO STAY PROCEEDINGS; AND [PROPOSED] ORDER

WHEREAS, in an effort to narrow the issues before the Court, 1. On February 13, April 24, and June 24, 2009, the parties informed the Court that

Defendants had agreed to reconsider the scope of their searches, reconsider the bases for their withholding of records previously produced, and/or perform secondary searches in response to Plaintiffs' February 2008 FOIA request (and, in the case of EOIR, in response to Plaintiffs' June 2008 FOIA request). On April 27 and June 25, 2009, the Court approved the parties' stipulations to stay proceedings to allow these secondary searches, and the processing of potentially responsive records, to take place; and
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2.

On July 24, 2009, the parties informed the Court that four Defendants -- DHS, DHS-

OIG, CIS, and CBP -- had completed their secondary searches and/or processing, and that the parties had agreed to confer by a series of dates certain in an effort to resolve Plaintiffs' claims against those Defendants without the Court's intervention. On the same date, the parties informed the Court that the two other Defendants -- EOIR and ICE -- had not yet completed the processing of potentially responsive records identified from their secondary searches, and provided an update on the status of those Defendants' searches and processing; and 3. On July 30, 2009, the Court approved the parties' stipulation (a) to further stay

proceedings through and including October 30, 2009; and (b) to submit a joint report advising the Court on the status of the above-mentioned negotiations and processing, and/or a stipulation proposing a schedule to govern further proceedings, no later than October 30, 2009; and 4. In accordance with the parties' July 24 status report, Defendants DHS, DHS-OIG,

CIS, and CBP have provided Plaintiffs with a letter that describes the scope of their respective searches for responsive records; Plaintiffs have responded with certain objections and/or requests for clarification; and the parties have conferred in an effort to resolve the outstanding issues. As a result, Plaintiffs have stipulated that they do not contest the adequacy of the searches performed by Defendants DHS, DHS-OIG, or CIS. Plaintiffs have requested additional details regarding the search conducted by CBP, and are not prepared to stipulate to its adequacy; however, further negotiation may eliminate the need for judicial resolution of this issue. 5. In further accord with the parties' July 24 status report, Defendants DHS-OIG and

CBP -- which withheld certain records as exempt from disclosure -- have provided Plaintiffs with a preliminary, partial Vaughn index explaining the bases for the withholdings that Plaintiffs have contested. In response, Plaintiffs have stipulated that they do not contest the propriety of the withholdings made by DHS-OIG. With respect to CBP, Plaintiffs have responded with several objections and/or requests for clarification; however, further negotiation may likewise eliminate the need for judicial resolution of these issues. 6. Defendant EOIR has completed its secondary search and produced the remaining

responsive, nonexempt records to Plaintiffs on August 24, 2009. The parties have conferred to
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discuss ways to move toward resolution of Plaintiffs' claims against EOIR without the Court's intervention, and have agreed in principle to follow a process similar in structure to that used by the other Defendants, see, e.g., supra ¶¶ 4-5. However, in view of the large volume of documents located by EOIR's secondary search -- nearly 2,700 pages -- additional time is needed for the parties to reach agreement on the parameters and dates certain for such a process. The parties have agreed to confer by November 13, 2009, in an effort to resolve this issue. 7. Defendant ICE has performed a secondary search that has located approximately

24,000 pages of potentially responsive records. Of those, ICE produced 321 pages of responsive, nonexempt records on June 2, 2009; 314 pages on June 23, 2009; 1,034 pages on July 23, 2009; 335 pages on August 4, 2009; 390 pages on August 24, 2009; 1,178 pages on September 25, 2009; and 788 pages on October 29, 2009. An additional 556 pages have been determined to be duplicate or nonresponsive documents. Approximately 19,084 pages of potentially responsive records remain to be processed. As noted in the parties' July 24 status report, the parties have agreed that, given the resource constraints on ICE's FOIA office, a processing rate of approximately 1,000 pages of potentially responsive records per month is reasonable, and that ICE will continue to make interim productions of responsive, nonexempt records on a monthly basis; and WHEREAS it would minimize litigation costs and conserve judicial resources to stay further proceedings in this case to permit the above-mentioned negotiations and processing to continue, and to permit the parties to confer further as described above; IT IS HEREBY AGREED AND STIPULATED by and between the parties, through undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that: 1. Further proceedings in this case are stayed for a period of approximately 3 months through and including January 30, 2010; and 2. No later than January 30, 2010, the parties shall submit a joint report advising the Court on the status of the above-mentioned negotiations and processing and/or a stipulation proposing a schedule to govern further proceedings. // //
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Dated: October 30, 2009 Respectfully submitted, /s/ Jennifer Lee Koh JENNIFER LEE KOH JAYASHRI SRIKANTIAH IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS CLINIC STANFORD LAW SCHOOL 559 Nathan Abbott Way Stanford, CA 94305 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] LINTON JOAQUIN KAREN TUMLIN NATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW CENTER 3435 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 2850 Los Angeles, CA 90010 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] JARED KOPEL LISA A. DAVIS DOMINIQUE-CHANTALE ALEPIN WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI Professional Corporation 650 Page Mill Road Palo Alto, CA 94304-1050 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Attorneys for Plaintiffs SIGNATURE ATTESTATION In accordance with General Order 45(X), I hereby attest that I have obtained Jennifer Lee Koh's concurrence in the filing of this document. /s/ Eric B. Beckenhauer ERIC B. BECKENHAUER TONY WEST Assistant Attorney General JOHN R. TYLER Assistant Branch Director /s/ Eric B. Beckenhauer ERIC B. BECKENHAUER, CSBN 237526 Trial Attorney U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch 20 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington, DC 20530 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail] Attorneys for Defendants

[PROPOSED] ORDER Pursuant to stipulation, IT IS SO ORDERED.
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CHARLES R. BREYER United States District Judge
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November 10, 2009 Dated: ________________________

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