The Intercept is
suing a city government in Texas in a bid to release police records related to the violent confrontation at an immigration detention facility that led to the
landmark Prairieland trial
earlier this year.
Prairieland Defendant Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Moving a Box of Antifascist Zines
In a filing in state court, The Intercept accused the city of Alvarado, Texas, and its police department of refusing to release records sought under the state’s Public Information Act. The news outlet asked a judge to order the city to release records of police communications on the days before and after a
noise demonstration
outside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Prairieland detention facility that turned violent.
Despite The Intercept agreeing to pay hundreds of dollars for the records, the city has failed to process the payment and left the records request in limbo, according to the complaint and to attorney Terry Mutchler, a veteran defender of records access who is representing The Intercept in the case.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years, and this is one of the singularly most distressing cases that I’ve seen in terms of public access to records,” Mutchler said. “This is stonewalling on steroids.”
“This is a situation where the public officials should be ashamed of themselves for forgetting who they work for.”
“The Intercept cut the check, and now the city won’t cash the check and they won’t give us the records — it’s radio silence,” said Mutchler. “This is a situation where the public officials should be ashamed of themselves for forgetting who they work for.”
A representative of the Alvarado city government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Exclusive: Feds Denied Ballistics Expert Access to Prairieland Defendant Who Got 100 Years in Prison
The complaint stems from a request filed under the state’s Public Information Act by freelance journalist
C. Frances
, who, o
