American Oversight Challenges Justice Department’s FOIA Processing Refusal
We filed an appeal after the Justice Department refused to process our request for U.S. records — instead directing us to seek them from the government of El Salvador.
Today, American Oversight announced it has filed an administrative appeal challenging the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) refusal to process a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for videos of U.S. government deportation flights to El Salvador in March 2025.
In a one-page letter rejecting the nonpartisan watchdog group’s request, the Trump DOJ instructed the organization to direct its request to the government of El Salvador — a foreign government that is not subject to FOIA.
The records at issue could shed light on whether the Trump administration defied federal court orders blocking removals under the Alien Enemies Act. Public reporting and a whistleblower account indicate that despite court orders to halt deportations, the administration continued flights carrying Venezuelan detainees to El Salvador on March 15 and 16, 2025, in direct defiance of the orders.
“Trump’s DOJ is well aware that FOIA is U.S. law. Suggesting that we should ask a foreign government for U.S. records is not only asinine — it’s a blatant attack on the public’s right to know,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “The American people deserve to know whether their government ignored federal court orders — and it is the DOJ’s job to search for and release responsive records in its custody. If the administration can ignore FOIA to conceal its defiance of court orders here, it can do so anywhere — from hiding the truth about the President’s dealings with a convicted child rapist to concealing how the administration plans to pay for retrofitting the not-so-free Qatari aircraft. Transparency isn’t optional in a democracy — it’s the foundation of public trust.”
American Oversight’s July FOIA request, originally submitted to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), sought all photographs, video, and audio recordings of the March 2025 deportation flights — including footage of plane boardings in the United States and debarkations in El Salvador. ICE referred the request to the DOJ for processing, which is consistent with statutory and regulatory requirements. Instead of searching for responsive records, the DOJ issued a final response directing American Oversight to contact “El Salvador’s Government, Public Records Office.”
The nonpartisan watchdog’s appeal argues that the DOJ failed to conduct a legally required search, improperly withheld agency records, and offered no lawful basis for its refusal. FOIA regulations explicitly permit agencies to refer requests only to other agencies subject to FOIA — a category that does not include foreign governments.