A Washington public interest group's attempt to discover the extent to which the government has sought to hide legal proceedings involving immigrant detainees since Sept. 11 has been stymied by a huge, upfront tab for research.
People for the American Way Foundation has been told it must pay nearly $400,000 before the Department of Justice will process its Freedom of Information Act request. The general counsel for the group, which hopes to publish a public report about government secrecy efforts against hundreds of unidentified detainees, called the unusually large fee requirement "outrageous."
"The government should not be able to levy that kind of fee as a precondition for getting information," said Elliot Mincberg. "We regularly file these requests against not only the Department of Justice but other federal agencies, and we've never had a situation like this before. It's hard to reach any other conclusion than they're stonewalling."
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