The American Immigration Council is holding the immigration agencies accountable for their lack of transparency. “This Month in Government Transparency” will highlight our efforts—and expose government documents we’ve uncovered. 

 THE LATEST 

  • A Win for Improving Access to Immigration Files

A district court found that the government’s practice of failing to produce immigration case files—also known as A-Files—within the deadlines set by Congress under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a systemic problem. The court ordered a comprehensive, permanent remedy. 

The court instructed the government to:

  • Respond within 60 days to over 40,000 outstanding FOIA requests for class members’ immigration files.
  • Obey the statutory timeline from now on. 
  • Set reporting requirements to ensure compliance.

The Court criticized the government’s long-standing delays and emphasized the significance of accessing immigration files in its decision:

“The unfortunate reality is that FOIA is the only realistic mechanism through which noncitizens can obtain A-Files. Given the critical importance of the information in A-Files to removal defense and legalizing status, it is not at all surprising that the number of A-File FOIA requests have increased along with this increase in immigration enforcement.”

The case was filed on behalf of three immigration attorneys and two noncitizens in June 2019. Along with the American Immigration Council, the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and the Law Offices of Stacy Tolchin represent the plaintiffs and class members. Read more about the case and significance of the decision.

 DOCUMENT DIVE 

  • ICE Codes

The Council obtained a 73-page list defining abbreviations and terms ICE uses in its electronic databases. The list may help with examining ICE data since the agency often fails to provide a key or definitions list for acronyms used in its databases. ICE released the document as part of the Council’s multi-year FOIA litigation efforts with the agency regarding enforcement outcomes. Read the document.  

  • Trump-Era Deportation Programs

This week marked the two-year anniversary of the “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP), a Trump-era initiative that forced asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while the U.S. government decides their fates. The Council filed multiple FOIA requests last year with the American Immigration Lawyers Association and Human Rights Watch to obtain more information on this program. When the government failed to respond, we sued with the law firm Winston & Strawn LLP. Read more about the requests and litigation.

The Council and our partners continue to review records obtained through this litigation—over 1,000 pages to date. The Council is analyzing these documents to see whether the government knew about the due process and safety issues MPP created—and how they planned to address them. 

These include CBP’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for MPP in El Paso as well as a memo detailing available “removal pathways.” See the SOP for El Paso here and here. The memo provides new information on the little-known Electronic Nationality Verification program, which is an effort to speed up the deportation of certain Central Americans. Explore the documents and learn more about this program in our fact sheet.

 DIG DEEPER 


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

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