Case 2:17-cv-00094-RAJ Document 147 Filed 04/09/18 Page 1 of 6 1 The Honorable Richard A. Jones 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 9 10 11 ABDIQAFAR WAGAFE, et al., 12 Plaintiffs, 13 14 15 v. DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States, et al., 16 Defendants. No. 2:17-cv-00094-RAJ DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SUBMIT DOCUMENTS EX PARTE, IN CAMERA NOTED FOR: APRIL 9, 2018 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Defendants respectfully request leave to submit to the Court, for its ex parte, in camera review in connection with Defendants’ opposition to Plaintiffs’ motion for sanctions, Dkt. 146, the declarations of Carl Ghattas, Executive Assistant Director of the National Security Branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and Matthew D. Emrich, Associate Director of the Fraud Detection and National Security (“FDNS”) Directorate, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”), Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). Defendants have contemporaneously lodged these documents with the Department of Justice (“DoJ”) Classified Information Security Officer (“CISO”), pending the Court’s ruling on this motion for leave to file. The Court’s consideration of these declarations is necessary to the Court’s full understanding of Defendants’ response to Plaintiffs’ sanctions motion. Further, Defendants and DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SUBMIT DOCUMENTS EX PARTE, IN CAMERA - 1 (2:17-cv-00094-RAJ) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation District Court Section 219 S. Dearborn St., 5th Floor Chicago, IL 60604 (202) 532-4542 Case 2:17-cv-00094-RAJ Document 147 Filed 04/09/18 Page 2 of 6 1 non-party government agencies have not yet fully formally asserted, explained or briefed the 2 privileges applicable to the redactions taken from the named Plaintiffs’ alien files, because 3 Plaintiffs have never filed a direct challenge to those redactions. Consequently, in an abundance 4 of caution, Defendants and non-party government agencies are now formally asserting relevant 5 privileges, including the law enforcement and deliberative process privileges, should the Court 6 choose to adjudicate the applicability of Defendants’ privilege claims in the context of Plaintiffs’ 7 sanctions motion, Dkt. 137. 1 Nevertheless, Defendants respectfully submit that the Court should 8 grant the parties the opportunity to thoroughly brief these privilege issues before ruling on them, 9 in light of the importance of the privilege assertions at issue and the fact that the non-party 10 agencies asserting privileges could not have violated this Court’s prior orders. Defendants and 11 the non-party government agencies are prepared to support their privilege assertions by making 12 more information available to the Court and by submitting the documents over which they assert 13 privilege to the Court for ex parte, in camera review. 14 The declarations Defendants seek leave to file ex parte, in camera contain sensitive non- 15 public explanations of the harms and risks that can be expected to result if information 16 Defendants have withheld from production were disclosed outside the U.S. government. That 17 information cannot be filed on the public docket, or disclosed to Plaintiffs, without damage to the 18 national interest. Defendants have endeavored to file information on the public docket where 19 possible, which is why Defendants have also filed on the public docket, as exhibits to their brief 20 in opposition to Plaintiffs’ sanctions motion, other declarations, including ones from the FBI and 21 USCIS, which do not require ex parte, in camera handling. Nevertheless, some information must 22 be disclosed only ex parte, in camera. 23 Defendants conferred telephonically with Plaintiffs’ counsel on Friday, April 6, 2018, 24 concerning their intent to seek leave to file these declarations ex parte for in camera review by 25 1 26 27 28 Defendants and other government agencies reserve their right to assert the state secrets privilege, if applicable, over information otherwise discoverable in this case. Consistent with judicial guidance, we will invoke the privilege only as a last resort, as the privilege “is not to be lightly invoked.” See United States v. Reynolds, 345 U.S. 1, 7 (1953). Additionally, Department of Justice policy imposes strict procedures on the privilege’s assertion and Defendants must comply with those procedures prior to invoking the privilege. See https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-establishes-new-state-secrets-policies-and-procedures (last visited April 5, 2018). DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SUBMIT DOCUMENTS EX PARTE, IN CAMERA - 2 (2:17-cv-00094-RAJ) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation District Court Section 219 S. Dearborn St., 5th Floor Chicago, IL 60604 (202) 532-4542 Case 2:17-cv-00094-RAJ Document 147 Filed 04/09/18 Page 3 of 6 1 the Court. Although this is not a motion to seal, Defendants nonetheless considered the issues 2 required by Local Civil Rule 5.2(g)(3)(A) and the Court’s standing order (Dkt. 65) in that 3 conference. Plaintiffs’ counsel oppose the relief requested in this motion for leave. 4 Should the Court grant Defendants leave to submit the declarations ex parte, in camera, 5 Defendants’ counsel will coordinate with the DoJ CISO for the secure transmission of these 6 declarations to the Court. 7 For the foregoing reasons, Defendants respectfully request the Court to grant them leave 8 to submit the declarations of FBI Executive Assistant Director Carl Ghattas and USCIS 9 Associate Director Matthew D. Emrich ex parte for in camera review. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Dated: April 9, 2018 Respectfully submitted, CHAD A. READLER Acting Assistant Attorney General EDWARD S. WHITE Senior Litigation Counsel, National Security & Affirmative Litigation Unit WILLIAM C. PEACHEY Director, District Court Section Office of Immigration Litigation TIMOTHY M. BELSAN Deputy Chief, National Security & Affirmative Litigation Unit 18 19 20 21 22 23 /s/ Aaron R. Petty AARON R. PETTY JOSEPH F. CARILLI, JR. CHRISTOPHER C. HOLLIS Trial Attorneys, National Security & Affirmative Litigation Unit District Court Section Office of Immigration Litigation U.S. Department of Justice 219 S. Dearborn St. Chicago, IL 60604 Tel: (202) 532-4542 Fax: (202) 305-7000 Email: aaron.r.petty@usdoj.gov Counsel for Defendants 24 25 26 27 28 DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SUBMIT DOCUMENTS EX PARTE, IN CAMERA - 3 (2:17-cv-00094-RAJ) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation District Court Section 219 S. Dearborn St., 5th Floor Chicago, IL 60604 (202) 532-4542 Case 2:17-cv-00094-RAJ Document 147 Filed 04/09/18 Page 4 of 6 CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE 1 2 I HEREBY CERTIFY that on April 6, 2018, I conferred with opposing counsel and 3 thoroughly discussed the substance of this motion and in good faith attempted to reach an accord 4 to eliminate the need for the motion. The following individuals participated in that telephonic 5 conference: Edward S. White, Joseph F. Carilli, Serrita Hill, Nicholas Gellert, David Perez, Matt 6 Adams, and Samir Ahmed. Although not strictly necessary, Defendants discussed the matters 7 identified in Local Civil Rule 5(g)(3)(A) to the extent practicable given the nature of the 8 information and the relief sought. 9 10 11 Dated: April 9, 2018 /s/ Edward S. White EDWARD S. WHITE U.S. Department of Justice 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SUBMIT DOCUMENTS EX PARTE, IN CAMERA - 4 (2:17-cv-00094-RAJ) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation District Court Section 219 S. Dearborn St., 5th Floor Chicago, IL 60604 (202) 532-4542 Case 2:17-cv-00094-RAJ Document 147 Filed 04/09/18 Page 5 of 6 1 2 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I HEREBY CERTIFY that on April 9, 2018, I electronically filed the foregoing with the 3 Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF system, which will send notification of such filing to the 4 following CM/ECF participants: 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Harry H. Schneider, Jr., Esq. Nicholas P. Gellert, Esq. David A. Perez, Esq. Laura Hennessey, Esq. Perkins Coie L.L.P. 1201 Third Ave., Ste. 4800 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 PH: 359-8000 FX: 359-9000 Email: HSchneider@perkinscoie.com Email: NGellert@perkinscoie.com Email: DPerez@perkinscoie.com Email: LHennessey@perkinscoie.com Matt Adams, Esq. Glenda M. Aldana Madrid, Esq. Northwest Immigrant Rights Project 615 Second Ave., Ste. 400 Seattle, WA 98104 PH: 957-8611 FX: 587-4025 E-mail: matt@nwirp.org E-mail: glenda@nwirp.org Emily Chiang, Esq. ACLU of Washington Foundation 901 Fifth Avenue, Suite 630 Seattle, WA 98164 Telephone: (206) 624-2184 E-mail: Echiang@aclu-wa.org 24 25 26 27 28 DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SUBMIT DOCUMENTS EX PARTE, IN CAMERA - 5 (2:17-cv-00094-RAJ) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation District Court Section 219 S. Dearborn St., 5th Floor Chicago, IL 60604 (202) 532-4542 Case 2:17-cv-00094-RAJ Document 147 Filed 04/09/18 Page 6 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Jennifer Pasquarella, Esq. Sameer Ahmed, Esq. ACLU Foundation of Southern California 1313 W. 8th Street Los Angeles, CA 90017 Telephone: (213) 977-5211 Facsimile: (213) 997-5297 E-mail: jpasquarella@aclusocal.org E-mail: sahmed@aclusocal.org Stacy Tolchin, Esq. Law Offices of Stacy Tolchin 634 S. Spring St. Suite 500A Los Angeles, CA 90014 Telephone: (213) 622-7450 Facsimile: (213) 622-7233 E-mail: Stacy@tolchinimmigration.com Trina Realmuto, Esq. Kristin Macleod-Ball, Esq. American Immigration Council 100 Summer St., 23rd Fl. Boston, MA 02110 Tel: (857) 305-3600 Email: trealmuto@immcouncil.org Email: kmacleod-ball@immcouncil.org Lee Gelernt, Esq. Hugh Handeyside, Esq. Hina Shamsi, Esq. American Civil Liberties Union Foundation 125 Broad Street New York, NY 10004 Telephone: (212) 549-2616 Facsimile: (212) 549-2654 E-mail: lgelernt@aclu.org E-mail: hhandeyside@aclu.org E-mail: hshamsi@aclu.org 24 /s/ Aaron R. Petty AARON R. PETTY Trial Attorney, National Security & Affirmative Litigation Unit 25 26 27 28 DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SUBMIT DOCUMENTS EX PARTE, IN CAMERA - 6 (2:17-cv-00094-RAJ) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation District Court Section 219 S. Dearborn St., 5th Floor Chicago, IL 60604 (202) 532-4542 Case 2:17-cv-00094-RAJ Document 147-1 Filed 04/09/18 Page 1 of 2 1 The Honorable Richard A. Jones 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 9 10 11 ABDIQAFAR WAGAFE, et al., 12 13 14 15 16 No. 2:17-cv-00094-RAJ Plaintiffs, [PROPOSED] ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SUBMIT DOCUMENTS EX PARTE, IN CAMERA v. DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States, et al., Defendants. 17 18 19 20 21 Having considered Defendants’ Motion for Leave to Submit Documents Ex Parte, In Camera, and finding good cause for the granting the motion, it is hereby ORDERED that Defendants’ Motion is GRANTED. Defendants are granted leave to 22 submit the declarations of FBI Executive Assistant Director Carl Ghattas and USCIS Associate 23 Director Matthew D. Emrich ex parte for in camera review. 24 25 26 IT IS SO ORDERED. ___________________________________ HON. RICHARD A. JONES United States District Judge 27 28 [PROPOSED] ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SUBMIT DOCUMENTS EX PARTE, IN CAMERA - 1 (2:17-cv-00094-RAJ) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation District Court Section 219 S. Dearborn St., 5th Floor Chicago, IL 60604 (202) 532-4542 Case 2:17-cv-00094-RAJ Document 147-1 Filed 04/09/18 Page 2 of 2 1 2 3 4 Presented by: CHAD A. READLER Acting Assistant Attorney General WILLIAM C. PEACHEY Director, District Court Section Office of Immigration Litigation EDWARD S. WHITE Senior Litigation Counsel, National Security & Affirmative Litigation Unit 13 /s/ Aaron R. Petty AARON R. PETTY JOSEPH F. CARILLI, JR. CHRISTOPHER C. HOLLIS Trial Attorneys, National Security & Affirmative Litigation Unit District Court Section Office of Immigration Litigation U.S. Department of Justice 219 S. Dearborn St. Chicago, IL 60604 Tel: (202) 532-4542 Fax: (202) 305-7000 Email: aaron.r.petty@usdoj.gov 14 Counsel for Defendants 5 6 7 TIMOTHY M. BELSAN Deputy Chief, National Security & Affirmative Litigation Unit 8 9 10 11 12 15 Dated: April 9, 2018 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 [PROPOSED] ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR LEAVE TO SUBMIT DOCUMENTS EX PARTE, IN CAMERA - 2 (2:17-cv-00094-RAJ) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation District Court Section 219 S. Dearborn St., 5th Floor Chicago, IL 60604 (202) 532-4542