Access to Records About Immigration Detention

From 2019-2024, the ACLU of Michigan litigated a state court lawsuit challenging the Calhoun County Jail’s refusal to disclose records related to immigrants in detained there under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. Despite obtaining a unanimous victory at the Michigan Supreme Court, Calhoun County and other local jails that hold immigrants on behalf of ICE continued to withhold immigration detention records—all under the guise of an obscure federal regulation that classifies these records as the property of ICE. In January 2025 the ACLU of Michigan and the National ACLU filed a new lawsuit, this time challenging the regulation itself in federal court. The lawsuit alleges that federal immigration authorities do not have the authority to issue a regulation automatically deeming purely local records their exclusive property. The federal government filed a motion to dismiss in the case, which is currently pending a ruling from the court. (ACLU of Michigan v. Calhoun County; ACLU of Michigan v. ICE; ACLU Attorneys Ramis Wadood, Miriam Aukerman, Phil Mayor, and Bonsitu Kitaba-Gaviglio; ACLU National Attorneys My Khanh Ngo, Eunice Cho, Spencer Amdur, and Kyle Virgien.)