ACLU of Puerto Rico Goes to Court on Behalf of Journalist to Demand Disclosure of Public Information About Operation Stonegarden

San Juan, P.R. - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Puerto Rico filed a petition for mandamus this Monday before the Court of First Instance in San Juan, on behalf of journalist Carlos Berríos Polanco, to require the Puerto Rico Police Bureau to turn over public information regarding its participation in Operation Stonegarden, a federal grant program.

The legal action comes after the Police failed to respond within the time period established by the Transparency and Expedited Procedure for Access to Public Information Act, Act No. 141-2019, as amended, to a request submitted on February 19, 2026 through the Puerto Rico Government’s Transparency Portal.

“We are talking about information concerning the use of public funds, coordination with federal agencies, equipment acquisition, and civil rights safeguards. That information does not belong to the agency; it belongs to the people,” said Fermín Arraiza Navas, legal director of the ACLU of Puerto Rico. “The law does not allow an agency to simply remain silent, let the deadline expire, and treat access to information as if it were optional,” he emphasized.

Operation Stonegarden is a FEMA federal grant for joint operations along international land and maritime borders. The program funds coordination among federal agencies and state and municipal police departments to address cross-border criminal activity such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, and terrorism.

“Access to public information is a constitutional right that is indispensable for holding power accountable and for enabling the public to evaluate government actions seriously, based on data and facts. When the government remains silent in response to a request of this nature, what it is doing is blocking public scrutiny,” said Annette Martínez Orabona, executive director of the ACLU of Puerto Rico.

The request seeks access to documents related to the administration and allocation of Operation Stonegarden funds, as well as proposals, memoranda of understanding, and cooperation or subaward agreements entered into with federal agencies between fiscal years 2018 and 2025.

It also seeks operational reports and law-enforcement compliance data. Likewise, it requests records of arrests, citations, and other interventions carried out during those operations, including documents that would reveal the nature of the charges and whether the cases resulted in state or federal proceedings.

The ACLU of Puerto Rico stressed that Act No. 141-2019, as amended, establishes a 20-business-day period for responding to public information requests, counted from the business day following filing. That period may only be extended through a justified extension under limited circumstances. In this case, because the request was submitted on February 19, 2026, the period began to run on February 20 and expired on March 20, 2026.

“This request seeks to document how this program operates in Puerto Rico, how public funds are used, and what its real implications are for communities and civil rights,” said Carlos Berríos Polanco, journalist with Latino Newsletter. “For me, it is important that the public understand that when an agency engages in administrative silence, it is not merely failing a journalist, but denying the country information necessary to understand how public power is exercised and how funds from these programs are used,” he added.

As reflected in the Transparency Portal itself, once the deadline expired and in the absence of any request for an extension, the request was marked with the status “Administrative Silence,” which is equivalent to a denial of access to information and authorizes the requesting party to go to court to demand compliance with the ministerial duty to respond and disclose public documents.

The request includes operational policies and training materials governing officers’ conduct under that program, with emphasis on use of force, interaction with civilians, authority to intervene in immigration matters, and protocols for referring individuals to federal custody. It also seeks documents concerning civil rights protections, language access, anti-discrimination safeguards, complaint mechanisms, and the community impact of these operations.