It started with a press release in late October: the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton office announced the arrest of 35 illegal immigrants.
The write-up touted Paxton’s work with the Trump Administration but released few details, other than that the arrests took place “across the state in multiple metropolitan areas.” According to the release, the detainees “were then processed for removal by ICE in accordance with federal immigration law.”
CBS News Texas submitted an open records request for the names, ages and locations of the people arrested, along with the criminal charges filed. Basic details like those are typically considered public information in Texas, when the people arrested are adults.
The attorney general’s office gave notice Tuesday that it is fighting that request in an attempt to keep the information secret.
In an email, the AG’s office said Immigrations and Customs Enforcement “has a law enforcement interest in the release of the requested information. Therefore, in accordance with the 287(g) Agreement between our two agencies, the OAG will notify ICE of these requests for information and its right to submit arguments against the disclosure of the requested information.”
Under state law, a public agency must release public information unless it falls under an exception and is considered exempt from disclosure. If that occurs, the agency must explain why the information should not be released and ask the attorney general’s office to rule on the matter.
In this case, the AG’s office is asking its own open records division to decide. That process typically takes about nine weeks.