ACLU of Puerto Rico defends access to public information before the Court of Appeals

San Juan, P.R. – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Puerto Rico argued before the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals that the constitutional right of access to public information must be protected and that the judgment of the Court of First Instance (CFI) should be upheld. That judgment ordered the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP) to produce the alleged subpoena issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) related to thousands of immigrants in Puerto Rico.

The organization warned that the Department of Justice and DTOP insist on keeping a public document of high public interest secret, despite the fact that the Constitution of Puerto Rico, case law, and Act 141-2019 establish the principle of maximum disclosure for information held by the State.

“What is at stake here is not a mere legal technicality, but the public’s right to know how the government used immigrants’ confidential information to facilitate arrests and deportations,” said Fermín L. Arraiza Navas, legal director of the ACLU of Puerto Rico. “DTOP allegedly received a subpoena, acted on it, and turned over data. That document is public, and the State has a ministerial duty to disclose it. Claiming otherwise is an end-run around the Constitution and the public policy of transparency,” he stated.

The ACLU of Puerto Rico filed the lawsuit on October 1, 2025, after DTOP refused to comply with a public records request submitted by the organization, claiming confidentiality of the documents. After an evidentiary hearing, the CFI ordered DTOP to produce the information through a judgment issued on November 7. The agency failed to comply with the order and instead appealed. The Department of Justice and DTOP also refused an in camera inspection of the document.

According to publicly reported information, between February and March 2025 ICE requested from DTOP information on approximately 6,000 immigrants who obtained driver’s licenses under Act 97-2013, which expressly requires protecting the confidentiality of that data and prohibits its use for discrimination or for immigration purposes.

Subsequently, the federal government itself confirmed that it was already using that data to identify people susceptible to deportation, and the government of Puerto Rico acknowledged having provided the requested information. As a result, the number of people arrested or disappeared following interventions by ICE and other federal agencies rose from around 241 in March to more than 1,430 by the end of November.

“It is especially grave that the same State that promised by law that this data would not be used to target immigrants now refuses to be accountable for how and why it turned it over,” said Annette Martínez Orabona, executive director of the ACLU of Puerto Rico.

The ACLU’s argument maintains that an administrative subpoena received by a Puerto Rico government agency and acted upon is a public document subject to disclosure, and that Act 141-2019 and the writ of mandamus are the correct and appropriate mechanisms to compel access to information in the hands of the Commonwealth government.

Martínez Orabona reiterated that the Court of First Instance acted correctly in ordering the production of the subpoena and related documents. “Transparency is not optional—it is a requirement of the rule of law. We trust that the Court of Appeals will affirm the judgment,” the executive director added.