Greetings. This installment of Immigration Disclosures highlights our fight to keep documents regarding medical treatment received by migrants in CBP custody from being destroyed.
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The Council and its litigation partners agreed to settle their lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement seeking ICE’s production of bond payment information. As part of the settlement, ICE agreed to conduct a search for local office’s procedures about CeBonds, the electronic bond payment platform, and to post some other bond related documents on the agency’s website. Law360 reported on the settlement.
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Council Joins Dozens of Organizations and Researchers in the Fight to Protect Records of Migrants’ Medical Treatment
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On January 12, the Council, along with the ACLU National Prison Project and the Texas Civil Rights Project, led efforts to oppose U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) proposal to destroy records of medical treatment received by migrants in CBP custody. The records, which are maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), cover information about medical history, physical condition, vaccinations, mental health, first-aid, and other medical treatment received by migrants in CBP custody, which include medical assessments, notes of patient encounters, medical summaries, patient refusal of treatment, recorded observations, health interviews, and questionnaires. Currently, these documents would be maintained permanently by NARA. CBP’s proposal would require NARA to destroy these records after 20 years.
The letter to NARA opposing CBP’s proposed disposition, which was signed by more than one hundred scholars and more than seventy organizations, highlighted the importance of these records. The medical records provide an important historical perspective on how CBP treated migrants in its custody, as future generations may use them to study past policies. This is particularly applicable to current events of great historical importance like the impact of COVID-19 on the country’s immigration policy or the prior administration’s use of family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The letter also raised concerns that CBP’s proposed destruction schedule failed to consider the legal significance of the documents. Permanently maintaining the medical records may be helpful to future potential litigation, especially in cases where victims of mistreatment may have been minors or in wrongful death cases. |
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CBP’s proposal comes at the heels of several high-profile deaths of individuals in CBP custody. Keeping these records, even after twenty years, could be crucial to future litigation.
- The records have historical value for future generations interested in learning about how we treated vulnerable migrants.
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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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