- “The public has a right to know how ICE is planning to expand its network of detention centers, especially when tens of thousands of people are already held in these facilities every day under conditions that raise serious human rights concerns.” – Michele Delgado, staff attorney at the ACLU of North Carolina
By Vanguard Staff
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union, along with its Virginia and North Carolina affiliates, filed a federal lawsuit this week against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, demanding that the agency turn over records about its potential plans to expand immigration detention in Virginia. The ACLU argues that ICE has failed to comply with federal transparency laws and is attempting to shield critical information about the growth of its detention network during the Trump administration.
The lawsuit, filed October 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, arises from ICE’s May 28, 2025, Request for Information seeking proposals for “available detention facilities” in areas covered by ICE’s Washington, D.C. Enforcement and Removal Operations Field Office.
The request specifically sought facilities for single adults with capacity between 1,000 and 1,500 beds, located within a two-hour drive of Richmond International Airport. The ACLU and its affiliates submitted a Freedom of Information Act request on August 8, 2025, demanding records related to the solicitation.
Despite statutory requirements for agencies to respond within 20 business days, ICE has failed to release any records or provide a legal justification for withholding them.
“The Trump administration is hastily opening new ICE detention facilities in an effort to deport as many people as possible, no matter the costs to our communities,” said Eunice Cho, senior counsel at the ACLU’s National Prison Project. “The public has a right to know how its taxpayer dollars are being used to expand the abusive ICE detention machine.”
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of FOIA battles launched by the ACLU to shed light on ICE’s detention practices. Previous litigation has revealed significant details about which facilities the agency is considering nationwide.
According to the filing, ICE detains more than 59,000 people on any given day in a network of approximately 190 facilities. Although ICE directly owns five centers, the vast majority of detained individuals are held in private prisons, local jails, and facilities operated through inter-governmental service agreements.
“This lawsuit is about transparency and accountability,” said Michele Delgado, staff attorney at the ACLU of North Carolina. “The public has a right to know how ICE is planning to expand its network of detention centers, especially when tens of thousands of people are already held in these facilities every day under conditions that raise serious human rights concerns.”
The ACLU’s filing details how the organization sought a waiver of search and reproduction fees, arguing that disclosure of the requested records is in the public interest and not for any commercial purpose.
The filing also requested expedited processing, citing a “compelling need” to inform the public about federal government activity. In its initial response on August 15, ICE acknowledged receipt of the request, assigned a tracking number, and invoked a 10-day extension, but denied both the request for expedited processing and the request for a fee waiver.
On September 2, the ACLU filed an administrative appeal. ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor confirmed receipt and assigned an appeal tracking number but ultimately denied the request for expedited processing again on September 29. ICE remanded the issue of the fee waiver back to its FOIA office. To date, no responsive records have been produced.
The complaint emphasizes that ICE’s failure to act violates multiple provisions of the FOIA statute, including requirements to conduct reasonable searches, process requests expeditiously, and provide records within statutory deadlines.
The ACLU argues that the information is urgently needed because ICE’s detention practices have been the subject of widespread congressional, media, and advocacy attention.
The filing cites multiple congressional letters, including one from Senator Dick Durbin and another from Representative Jamie Raskin, raising alarms over ICE’s plans to expand detention facilities.
National news outlets have also documented the administration’s aggressive expansion of immigration detention and the use of private prison contractors to meet demand.
“The Trump administration’s determination to rip families apart has created a humanitarian crisis in ICE facilities,” said Sophia Gregg, senior immigrants’ rights attorney at the ACLU of Virginia. “ICE’s solution to the dangerous, rapidly degenerating conditions in its existing facilities can’t be to replicate those conditions in new facilities that it builds in secret. ICE must be transparent and follow the law—not violate people’s civil rights and civil liberties to advance an inhumane political agenda.”
The lawsuit underscores how ICE’s lack of transparency intersects with mounting reports of inhumane conditions. Media investigations have documented that immigrants detained at the Washington Field Office in Chantilly, Virginia, were given only one meal a day and denied access to lawyers following President Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C.
The ACLU argues that expanding detention under such conditions poses a grave risk to civil liberties and human rights.
The complaint also invokes the central purpose of the Freedom of Information Act: to ensure an informed citizenry capable of holding government accountable. It cites Supreme Court precedent affirming FOIA’s role in checking corruption and ensuring transparency in government operations.
According to the filing, ICE has now exceeded the statutory time period by more than 30 business days and has failed to comply with even the extended deadline. The ACLU asserts that this constitutes a violation of FOIA and exhaustion of administrative remedies, giving the court authority to intervene.
The ACLU and its affiliates are asking the court to declare ICE’s failure to respond unlawful, order an immediate and adequate search for records, and enjoin ICE from withholding non-exempt documents. They also request that the court grant attorney’s fees and costs associated with the litigation.
The case highlights a broader political context. In recent months, the Trump administration has announced new detention facilities at a maximum-security prison in Louisiana and at Fort Bliss military base in Texas.
Civil rights groups warn that the expansion is part of a strategy to accelerate deportations, with the administration aiming to remove millions of immigrants. The ACLU’s lawsuit suggests that ICE’s refusal to release documents about its Virginia expansion plans is part of a pattern of secrecy that undermines democratic accountability.
The plaintiffs—represented by attorneys from the ACLU’s National Prison Project, the Immigrants’ Rights Project, and the Virginia and North Carolina affiliates—stress that the fight is not only about records but about ensuring the public can scrutinize the government’s detention policies.
“Obtaining information about governmental activity, analyzing that information, and widely publishing and disseminating it to the press and the public is a critical and substantial component of the ACLU’s work,” the filing states.
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