#foia

#foia

Did you have immigration lawyer watch list on your 2025 authoritarianism BINGO card? If so, congrats! But for everyone else, it's yet another sad slide into federal control to learn that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) posted what appears to be a covert roster of immigration attorneys buried on its own website. The list was discovered by attorney Arlene Amarante, who stumbled upon the list while interacting with ICE's website and found her own name on it.

You'll recall, early in his second term, Trump launched a war on Biglaw through unconstitutional Executive Orders designed to break major law firms unless they bent the knee. In the face of financial harm, nine major firms (Paul Weiss, Skadden, Kirkland, Latham, Cadwalader, Willkie Farr, Simpson Thacher, Milbank, and A&O Shearman) sought Trump's seal of approval, providing millions in pro bono payola, that is, free legal services on behalf of conservative clients or approved causes in order to avoid Trumpian retribution.

The first year of the second Trump administration has already seen new heights in unlawful efforts to cut off access to information (and to punish newsrooms for doing their job). From unconstitutionally booting the Associated Press from the Oval Office because of its editorial stance, to creating unlawful press access policies at the Pentagon, the administration is desperately seeking to choke coverage it doesn't like. The currents shaping these efforts are only likely to intensify in 2026.

All messages on the messaging platform Signal and any app that can interface with Signal or otherwise borrow its technology sent or received by U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan regarding government business . American Oversight requests that all images, videos, audio recordings, or other attachments regarding official government business shared via Signal, including any app that can interface with Signal or otherwise borrow its technology , be produced in response to this request.

"A disclosure, even with redactions, will reveal whether a security clearance was granted with or without conditions or a waiver," DCSA argued. Ultimately, DCSA failed to prove that Musk risked "embarrassment or humiliation" not only if the public learned what specific conditions or waivers applied to Musk's clearances but also if there were any conditions or waivers at all, Cote wrote.

"The games the administration is playing with re-releasing already public documents while withholding the Trump-Epstein files and other key information is another betrayal of survivors," former Amb. Norm Eisen, executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund said. "In a democracy, transparency isn't optional. It's the law, and it's the bare minimum the American people are owed." The White House and the Justice Department did not respond to Axios' request for comment.

Since its creation in 2000, the Oversight Project has launched more than 100,000 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from federal offices and agencies and more than 100 lawsuits against the Joe Biden administration.

Approximately 1,000 FBI personnel were put on 24-hour shifts to review around 100,000 Epstein-related records under a deadline, with specific instructions to flag records mentioning President Trump.

The unusual persistence of DOGE, a purported government agency, thrives amid legal challenges as it navigates accusations and scrutiny over its oversight and operations.

The layoffs decimated the workforce that processes FOIA requests across FDA centers overseeing vaccines, drugs, tobacco, medical devices, and food, leading to significant operational disruptions.