DOJ Redacts Immigration Docs In Response To FOIA Request

Kevin Penton, Law360, May 30, 2018

A New York-based immigration attorney is crying foul after the U.S. Department of Justice responded to his Freedom of Information Act request for copies of dozens of decisions involving an immigration judge by releasing heavily redacted versions of the documents.

Although the department's Executive Office for Immigration Review cited FOIA's Exemption 6, which is meant to protect personal privacy by barring the release of medical and personnel files and similar materials, the redacted information includes citations to published decisions by the Board of Immigration Appeals and by various federal circuit courts, according to documents posted online by the attorney, Bryan Johnson of Amoachi & Johnson PLLC.

"It's bizarre and outrageous," Johnson told Law360 on Wednesday. "It's so obvious that it's unlawful what they're doing."

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