ACLU weighs lawsuits against gov’t over DTOP data shared with ICE
By THE STAR STAFF
After the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP) finally sent the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) -- after a delay of one year and four months -- the information request (subpoena) and the data shared with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), attorney Fermín Arraiza stated on Thursday that the organization is considering filing federal and/or state lawsuits regarding the Puerto Rico government’s actions.
“That is being evaluated, as we have several pending requests regarding legal services, and there is certainly a rather large group of people -- various categories of individuals -- who may have been or are currently being affected by this policy and by ICE’s actions carried out with the collaboration of the Puerto Rico government,” Arraiza said at a press conference. “Consequently, some form of legal action could be initiated in the courts -- whether state or federal; in other words, based on our analysis, there could be jurisdiction at both the state and federal levels.”
“We are considering an initiative -- one the ACLU has already launched nationwide -- that is far-reaching: a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act,” he added. “This would involve a civil rights claim against federal officials in federal court. However, we are not ruling out including state officials in a civil rights action as well. We envision the possibility of both individual lawsuits and a class action; as previously mentioned, there are various class subcategories -- migrants with irregular status, but also individuals who have already regularized their status, those with residency permits, and others with pending waiver petitions who have paid to keep that administrative process active with the federal agency yet have still been detained.” ACLU Executive Director Annette Martínez Orabona stated that although the requested information was public -- and not confidential (as confidentiality requires a statutory provision or court order) -- DTOP provided a list that was largely redacted. The list included the number, type, and issuance and expiration dates of DTOP-issued identification; the applicant’s first and middle names and surnames; date of birth; citizenship; residential address (including town and zip code); and telephone number for 6,321 individuals, most of whom had undefined immigration status.
“I want to tell you one thing,” Martínez Orabona said. “This document was definitely public from day one. The government of Puerto Rico chose to keep it hidden.”
The ACLU filed a lawsuit on Oct. 1, 2025, after DTOP Secretary, Edwin González Montalvo, refused to provide the information. Following several court orders and appeals, the Department of Transportation and Public Works submitted the information requested by the ACLU.
Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández Rivera stated meanwhile that “the Governor and the DTOP Secretary lied to the country and must take responsibility.”
“Our immigrants deserve justice, and Puerto Rico deserves the truth,” he said.
