Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center, et al. v. Department of Justice, Case No. 1:26-cv-07640
Summary
When police who engage in misconduct are fired from one agency, who ensures they aren’t re-hired by another? The National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD) was established in 2023 as a centralized hub that tracked federal law enforcement officer misconduct. It was created to strengthen hiring practices, enabling federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to ascertain whether current or past federal officers had a history of misconduct before extending a job offer. In an initial report covering the first nine months of the NLEAD’s operation, there were 4,790 records of federal officer misconduct for the period from 2018-2023, with the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security accounting for 88% of those incidents.
But in 2025, the federal government quietly dismantled NLEAD, without public explanation. Kennedy Human Rights Center, along with the National Police Accountability Project, Black Lives Matter, D.C., National Immigration Project, and Human Rights Data Analysis Group filed a Freedom of Information Act request to find out why. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) mandates that the government turn over public records to requestors within 20 days of a request. But when those records expose corruption or wrongdoing, the government often refuses to comply with the law, forcing requestors to file suit in federal court to seek production of public records. When the government refused to answer our FOIA request, we sued.
The lawsuit comes amid heightened public concern regarding federal law enforcement misconduct, oversight, and accountability, particularly as immigration enforcement officers have been involved in numerous killings.
Co-counsel:
Plaintiffs are represented by the National Immigration Project, Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center, and the National Police Accountability Project.