By Jeffrey A. Roberts
CFOIC Executive Director
Colorado Public Radio asked a U.S. District Court to unseal the docket and judicial records connected to three federal law enforcement raids conducted in Denver and Aurora in January and February.
“The public has a powerful interest in transparency in these cases,” says a memorandum supporting CPR’s petition, filed by attorney Rachael Johnson of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
“Access to the Warrant Materials would enable the public to evaluate whether the warrants were issued and executed in compliance with the Fourth Amendment, and whether observed and reported federal law enforcement activity exceeded the scope of the activities authorized by the underlying warrants,” it adds.
“Without access to the Warrant Materials, it is unclear why the execution of a search warrant to seize evidence related to drug trafficking would not result in drug trafficking charges, but in detentions of persons accused of being undocumented — which is typically a civil administrative rather than criminal matter.”
CPR and other news organizations reported in February about the secrecy surrounding the raids, which involved U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other agencies.
Two of the raids happened before dawn at Aurora and Denver apartment complexes on Feb. 5. On Jan. 26, federal law enforcement agents raided a “makeshift nightclub” on Federal Boulevard in Denver, which the DEA said in a news release targeted people associated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The release indicates that 49 people were inside the nightclub and that ICE determined 41 were in the United States without documentation.
“To date, no criminal charges, for drugs or otherwise, have been filed as a result of the January 26 raid,” notes the memo supporting CPR’s petition for writ of mandamus, which was filed March 20. It is also unclear, the petition adds, “how many individuals, if any, were taken into custody as a result of the February 5 raids, and whether any criminal charges will be filed as of the date of this Petition.”
Local Criminal Rule 47.1 of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado requires the public disclosure of filings related to a search warrant once it has been executed and returned, Johnson wrote in the petition. “Although unexecuted warrant materials are subject to a temporary restriction on public access, that restriction ordinarily expires upon execution of a warrant. Because the warrants at issue here have been executed, and CPR is not aware of any motion to restrict or order sealing the Warrant Materials, this Court may direct the Clerk to unseal the relevant docket and filings associated with them,” she added.
Keeping the warrant materials under seal also would “violate the common law right of access to judicial records” as recognized by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, the petition argues. A 2013 ruling determined that the public’s right of access may only “be overcome where countervailing interests heavily outweigh the public interests in access.”
“But no such interests have or can be identified here. The warrants have been executed and, to CPR’s knowledge, no criminal investigation or immigration proceeding is underway or remains pending, nor has any party requested sealing in a publicly accessible manner. Accordingly, the Warrant Materials should be unsealed.”
Johnson told the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition that CPR is waiting for the court to decide “next steps” in the case.
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