Rooting Around in the Dark: Agencies Refusing to Comply with Dent Motions
Emily Burns
Introduction
The Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) is the principal mechanism that allows people to request records held by agencies within the Federal government.[1] In the immigration context, a very common type of FOIA record request is for an A-file, which is a record of every interaction between a non-citizen and an immigration related federal agency.[2]
For people in immigration proceedings, obtaining an A-File allows noncitizens and their lawyers to access information crucial to defending against deportation or gaining immigration benefits, such as entry and exit dates from the United States, copies of past applications submitted to Federal agencies, or statements made to U.S. officials.[3] To obtain an A-File, non-citizens must affirmatively request the file through FOIA from an agency such as United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).[4] However, one carve-out to this process exists, available only in the Ninth Circuit: Dent motions.[5] Dent motions exist due to the case of Dent v. Holder, where the Ninth Circuit recognized that the government violated Sazar Dent’s right to Due Process when it required Mr. Dent to request his A-File through FOIA rather than summarily handing the file over to him when requested in a prior court proceeding.[6]
