Disability Law United filed a lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on behalf of Sulieto Domingo, a former DLU client, after the agency failed to meet its statutory deadline to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request for records documenting his treatment in immigration detention. The suit argues that ICE violated FOIA by failing to issue a timely determination, failing to conduct an adequate search, and unlawfully withholding records it was legally required to produce.
Mr. Domingo, an immigrant from the Philippines with diagnosed mental health conditions, was re-detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, where he suffered a mental health crisis. Guards subjected him to a use-of-force incident and placed him in solitary confinement, where his mental health continued to deteriorate. He suffered another mental health crisis during his subsequent deportation. In November 2024, DLU filed a FOIA request seeking Mr. Domingo’s medical and disciplinary records, records related to the decision to place him in segregation, and video surveillance footage of both the use-of-force incident and his time in segregation. ICE granted the request expedited processing but, months later, had still not produced any records or issued a determination, well past the twenty-working-day deadline required by law.
The records are intended to support a future case holding the Northwest Detention Center accountable for violations of the disability and constitutional rights of the people held there.
The lawsuit asked the court to order ICE to conduct an adequate search and produce the records, and to award attorneys’ fees. After the case was filed the agency produced the requested documents.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.