John,

ICE cannot destroy records of sexual abuse and assault, death reviews, detainee segregation files and other records it planned to dispose of. That’s a huge victory.

A federal judge released the order preventing ICE’s destruction of records today in a case brought by CREW, American Historical Association and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.

This is a big deal. We sued the National Archives and Records Administration for approving ICE’s plan to destroy records without addressing tens of thousands of public comments opposing the plan, disregarding NARA’s own policies and failing to consider accountability and research interests in preserving the records permanently. The summary judgement issued today called NARA’s approval of the planned records destruction “arbitrary and capricious,” and invalidated ICE’s plan to get rid of records of abuse that happened on its watch.

Far too much harm has been inflicted on people in our country’s immigration system, and our country cannot fix these issues without knowing what has occurred. Destroying records revealing abuse, rights violations, and even deaths would have further obscured these violations. Without transparency, accountability is much more difficult, and without accountability, reform will continue to stay out of reach.

For more, read CREW’s full statement, and share on Facebook or Twitter.

Thank you,


Noah Bookbinder
President, CREW

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