Government Transparency
Ms. Hoq represents individuals and groups seeking to hold local, state, and the federal government accountable to the communities they serve. She has particular expertise in litigating open records and Freedom of Information Act lawsuits seeking government transparency on issues of important public concern. The following is a representative sample of her work in this practice area.
Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG
ACLU Foundation of Southern California v. ICE
U.S. District Court, Central District of California
Case No. 2:22-CV-04760
Pending
Lead counsel in a FOIA case on behalf of the ACLU of Southern California seeking to shed light on the U.S. Immigration and Customs’ Enforcement’s (ICE) practice of releasing gravely ill detainees from immigration custody just before their death. ICE’s practice is an apparent attempt to avoid responsibility for their deaths, which are often preceded by long periods of medical neglect in ICE custody. In addition to information about this widespread practice, the FOIA request also seeks information about its impact on four detainees who suffered known illnesses while in ICE custody, and who died shortly after they were suddenly and inexplicably released from custody.
Press: ICE rushed to release sick detainees, avoiding responsibility for their deaths
Hamdan v. U.S. Dept. of Justice, C.D.Cal.
No. 10-6149-DSF (JEMx)
9th Cir., No. 13-55172
FOIA case seeking transparency and accountability for the U.S. government’s role in the overseas “proxy detention” and torture of U.S. citizen Naji Hamdan in the U.A.E. Like many other Muslim Americans across the country since 9/11, Mr. Hamdan experienced intensive surveillance by the FBI and other government agencies while he lived in Southern California. This surveillance continued even after he moved with his wife and children to the U.A.E., where the FBI came to interrogate him further. Shortly thereafter the U.A.E placed him in a black site where he was again interrogated and tortured, and where he remained for three months.
Obtained thousands of documents in response to the FOIA highlighting U.S. government’s continued surveillance of Mr. Hamdan, before during and after his time in the black site, resulting in a monetary settlement with the government for $175,000 as the prevailing party in the suit.
CAIR-CA v. FEMA
U.S. District Court, Central District of California
Case No. 17-07887 (FOIA)
CAIR-CA v. City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Superior Court
Case No. 174139 (CPRA)
In response to Los Angeles Mayor’s Office accepting a $825,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to implement highly controversial Countering Violent Extremism (“CVE”) programs targeting AMEMSA communities, civil rights groups filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit against federal agencies and issued a Public Records Act request to Los Angeles City agencies seek transparency about the City’s CVE programs. CVE programs have been roundly criticized by civil rights and other groups as being discriminatory, stigmatizing and ineffective as a counterterrorism tool.
Documents obtained from the FOIA and PRA requests used in public education campaign, as well as ongoing administrative and legislative advocacy, including with the LA Mayor’s Office and LA City Council to reject the DHS CVE grant, and cease from engaging in CVE programs.