November 10, 2023

Greetings. This is the inaugural installment of the American Immigration Council’s revamped newsletter highlighting the Council’s transparency work. This installment highlights our lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to find out more on the treatment of migrants who come to southern border ports of entry without CBP One appointments.

Initial Disclosures:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agreed to post on its FOIA Library past versions of the Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) developed by U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) addressing CBP One’s privacy concerns. Release of these documents was a result of the Council’s 2021 lawsuit to find out more about CBP One’s development. Prior versions of the PIA help the public track changes DHS has made to the app.
Through litigation, the Council, along with the ACLU’s National Prison Project and the New York Civil Liberties Union, uncovered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s report to Congress on funding access to legal assistance for individuals in immigration detention. Despite a congressional mandate that the agency submit a report to legislators, the agency did not publicly disclose the documents submitted according to this requirement until after the lawsuit was filed. You also can look at additional records about the agency’s legal access initiatives funding and legal access funds.

Council and Center for Gender and Refugee Studies Sue CBP to Get Information on CBP’s Treatment of Migrants Coming to the Southern Border without CBP One Appointments

On October 16, the Council, along with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS), filed a lawsuit under FOIA against CBP to get records about the agency’s treatment of migrants who come to southern border ports of entry seeking asylum but do not have CBP One appointments. CBP One is the mobile phone app implemented by the agency to schedule inspection appointments prior to arriving at ports of entry. The Council and CGRS filed a FOIA request for this information on July 11, 2023, but CBP failed to respond. The information sought by this request seeks to better understand CBP’s policies and procedures on managing the flow of migrants and shed light on agency operations. The request also sought data on the number of asylum seekers processed at southern border ports of entry.

The request for this information followed reports from organizations serving migrants suggesting that CBP officers commonly turn back individuals who do not have CBP One appointments. CBP One can be difficult to navigate due to language access barriers, technological barriers, and migrants’ lack of resources to obtain smartphones or access to reliable Wi-Fi. Asylum seekers turned back from ports of entry are forced to wait in Mexico in perilous conditions until they successfully can schedule inspection appointments.

Why does this matter?

The information sought will help the public understand whether CBP is violating asylum seekers’ rights by refusing to provide inspection or asylum processing at ports of entry along the southern border.
Disclosure of this information is critical to organizations helping and informing asylum seekers about the government’s practices at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Read more here

The American Immigration Council works to hold the
government accountable on immigration issues. We harness freedom of information requests, litigation, and advocacy to expose the wrongdoing and promote transparency within immigration agencies. Make a donation today.

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