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February 2025
Greetings. This installment of Immigration Disclosures highlights a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain more information about the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary’s declaration of a “mass influx” of migrants. We also published two blogs – one on birthright citizenship and the other on sending migrants to Guantánamo Bay. Finally, the Transparency Team won partial summary judgement in our FOIA case on moving immigration court hearings on short notice.
Initial Disclosures
• On his first day in office, President Trump issued an executive order terminating birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants and temporary visitors. The executive order drew immediate legal challenges, which have prompted several federal district court judges to enjoin the order. The Council published an article breaking down the executive order and the lawsuits that have halted its implementation. Read our blog here [[link removed]] and birthright citizenship factsheet here. [[link removed]]
• President Trump ordered the DHS Secretary to expand immigration detention at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba to house up to 30,000 people. Since then, ICE has transferred at least 15 flights of migrants from the U.S. to its detention facility there. Immigration detention at Guantánamo Bay is not new, but this is the first time the U.S. is using Guantánamo Bay to hold thousands of migrants already in its borders. Read more here [[link removed]] .
• Immigration attorneys representing clients in removal proceedings frequently report that courts move up individual hearing dates with little advanced notice. The Council filed a FOIA request in October 2022 and a lawsuit in July 2023 to gather more information on the policies underlying these schedule changes. Rather than searching for localized policies on why cases are advanced, EOIR only searched the emails of the Chief Immigration Judge. On February 14, we won partial summary judgement in this case: the court found EOIR’s search deficient and ordered that it search assistant chief immigration judges’ email accounts and immigration courts’ shared drives for court-specific versions of policies advancing certain merits hearings. Read more about our FOIA here [[link removed]] .
The Council and Documented File a FOIA Request for Records on DHS Secretary’s ‘Mass Influx’ Declaration Transfers
• On February 26, 2025, the Council and Documented, a New York-based immigration news organization, filed a FOIA request on the DHS Secretary’s recent “Finding of Mass Influx of Aliens” Declaration. In this declaration—the first ever of its kind--the Secretary determined “the existence of an imminent mass influx of aliens arriving at the southern border,” which presents “urgent circumstances requiring an immediate federal response.”
In 1996, Congress passed a law permitting the federal government to a “mass influx” of migrants to unlock certain powers for the period of this influx. Under the law, the federal government both distributes funding to states and localities managing the “influx” and may delegate certain aspects of immigration enforcement to local law enforcement agents who agree to assume these responsibilities. While no past administration had ever used this provision, on January 23, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary declared a “mass influx,” invoking the law for the first time in history.
However, the current claims of “mass influx” are dubious. Border crossings are decreasing. Border Patrol encountered only 96,048 people at the southern border in December 2024—20,000 fewer than in October 2024, 84,000 fewer than in May 2024, and 205,000 fewer than in December 2023. Encounters are also less than they were in February 2003 when the Department of Justice declared that a “mass influx” declaration “will rarely be necessary.”
As such, the Council and Documented submitted FOIA requests to DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) for records the DHS Secretary considered when making a “mass influx” declaration. The FOIA request also asked for any agreements between ICE, CBP and DHS with state and local law enforcement officers pursuant to this declaration and any agreements between these agencies and Nassau County officials.
Why Does This Matter?
• This is the first time the federal government has made a “mass influx” declaration and there is considerable doubt whether such an influx actually exists. Uncovering records considered by the DHS Secretary when making the declaration will reveal the foundation for it and whether it is anything more than a pretext for expanding state and local law enforcement’s role in immigration enforcement.
• Obtaining records of the agreements will be crucial to the public’s understanding of which immigration duties local law enforcement agencies are carrying out.
Read more: Seeking Records about DHS’ Unprecedent Mass Influx Declaration and Associated Agreements With State and Local Law Enforcement [[link removed]]
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. [[link removed]]
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