July 2024

Greetings. This installment of Immigration Disclosures highlights a lawsuit the Council filed against the Department of State to obtain city-level data on refugee resettlement, and a blog analyzing the impact of 287(g) agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on local communities. The Transparency Team also celebrated a victory this month as the immigration court published its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) logs on its electronic reading room in response to the Council’s FOIA request in May.

Initial Disclosures:

On July 17, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the agency in charge of immigration courts, updated its FOIA logs on its FOIA electronic reading room in response to the Council’s May 29 FOIA request. The published logs allow advocates to identify partners that may hold desired documents, lessening the public’s reliance on using FOIA to obtain information. The FOIA logs also allow the public to identify records the agency may have a proactive duty to disclose. The agency had not updated its FOIA logs since 2020. Read the Council’s FOIA request here.
On July 18, the Council’s Transparency team co-authored a blog on the effects of cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement. This cooperation allows ICE to partner with state and local law enforcement to allegedly “enhance the nation’s safety and security.” However, the blog highlights the work the Council did with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, which exposed the harms of this cooperation. Read more here.

The Council Files a Lawsuit Against the Department of State for Refugee-Resettlement Data

On April 25, the Council filed a FOIA request with the Department of State to uncover data on the cities where the agency resettles refugees. After no response from the agency, the Council filed a lawsuit on July 12th to compel the agency to release the data.

Individuals seeking admission into the United States as refugees must undergo an extensive vetting process . Before entering the country, they must prove that they have a well-founded fear of persecution based on one of the protected categories outlined in the law. Once the United States establishes that individuals have a fear of returning to their home country, they are admitted as refugees. The Department of State’s Refugee Admissions Program then works to resettle refugees in the country's interior.

Up until 2018, the Department of State proactively published city-level data on refugee resettlement. After this point, data published became limited to the state level. The FOIA request seeks both the individualized, aggregate and locational data of refugees admitted to the U.S.; as well as the Department of State’s data dictionaries to fully understand the locational data.

Why does this matter?

City-level data acted as a powerful tool for researchers, advocates, and policymakers to analyze the impact refugees have on local communities. Access to this data will allow advocates to better understand the economic and cultural contributions refugees make in their local communities.
Access to city-level data inevitably aids communities better welcome refugees and develop policies to help integrate them into their local communities with more ease.

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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