Border Patrol and IRS Sued for Stonewalling FOIA Requests on Asset Forfeiture
By CJ Ciaramella, Reason, Dec. 8, 2016
Want to see an IRS database of all the property it seizes from citizens? It'll cost you $750,000. How about a U.S. Customs and Border Protection database of seizures? Sorry, the CBP says the list of stuff they take from the public isn't a public record.
Such are the travails of the Institute for Justice, a libertarian-leaning public interest law firm that is suing the two federal agencies for stonewalling its public records requests for asset forfeiture databases.
The Institute for Justice, which has launched numerous state-level lawsuits challenging civil asset forfeiture laws, filed a lawsuit Thursday against CBP and the IRS, saying the two agencies are flouting the Freedom of Information Act.
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