UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

for protecting legal rights endures despite the passage of time,” (2) records “containing significant documentation of Government activities” that are “essential to understanding and evaluating Federal actions,” and (3) records that are “essential to understanding the role of the Federal Government and the history of our nation, its people, and the environment.” Id. [...] NARA responded to commenters’ concerns regarding the research value of the scheduled records by stating, “When the National Archives appraises a series of records as temporary rather than permanent, it does not mean that the activities the records document are unimportant, or that the records lack any research use.” Id. [...] The court finds that, as to all but the Detainee Escape Reports, NARA’s approval of the schedule was arbitrary and capricious on the grounds that NARA failed to evaluate the research value of the ICE records and that NARA failed to address significant and relevant public comments. [...] The court might agree with NARA were it not for the numerous comments touting the current and anticipated future research value of the records and criticizing the agency for not properly measuring their true value. [...] 4 In addition, the San Francisco office of NARA noted that the destruction of some of these records occurred because the Immigration and Nationalization Service “believed at the time, incorrectly, that” many administrative records were 19 Case 1:20-cv-00739-APM Document 21 Filed 03/12/21 Page 20 of 21 for NARA to carefully consider the future research value of the records listed in ICE’s Dispositi.