California ACLU Sues ICE Over Release of ICE Air Records

The ACLU on Monday sued Immigration and Customs Enforcement over public records it requested months ago, citing the incoming Donald Trump administration as a reason to hasten their release, Courthouse News reports The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California seeks records about the agency’s ICE Air Operations. The program is comprised of what the ACLU called “a sprawling and opaque network” of privately owned planes chartered by the government to remove noncitizens from the United States. “Despite the critical role these flights play in the removal system — in many instances, serving as the mechanism for deportation — ICE Air remains shrouded in secrecy,” the ACLU writes. Trump’s statements about his plan to arrest noncitizens on a massive scale and deport them have put a spotlight on the ICE Air program, the ACLU says, noting that the records it seeks will reveal any risks that could arise if the program’s capacity is increased.

Specifically, the ACLU wants records about ICE Air’s removal operations from Jan. 1, 2023, to the present. That includes contracts for flights, ground transport to those flights, airfields ICE uses or has access to for the flights, and policies and procedures about staffing and flights, including those with unaccompanied children. “For months, the ACLU has been preparing for the possibility of a mass detention and deportation program, and FOIA litigation has been a central part of our roadmap,” said Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project, in a statement. “A second Trump administration underscores the urgency of our litigation.” The ACLU is also arguing that there is a public right to know more about ICE Air, because Trump's proposal has instilled fear in immigrant communities, said Eva Bitran, director of immigrants’ rights at ACLU Southern California, in a statement. “The public has a right to know how its taxpayer dollars could be used to fund deportation flights that would tear apart not only families, but also our communities.”