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THE LATEST FILINGS
- Investigating CBP's Sandusky Bay Station in Ohio
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) opened a headquarters for Border Patrol near Port Clinton, Ohio, nearly a decade ago. Yet the station’s operations are anything but transparent.
The Council and our partner, Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE), filed multiple FOIA requests seeking details about CBP’s presence in Ohio. We’re asking CBP to release communications, policies, and data related to the Sandusky Bay Station. A separate request seeks information and complaints about CBP misconduct.
Read more: Seeking Information About Border Patrol Practices in Ohio
- Mapping Immigration Enforcement Databases
Immigration enforcement agencies rely on a complicated and obscure network of databases, information systems, and data sharing methods. This complex web operates out of public view.
It is even harder to hold these agencies accountable when the public doesn’t know what information to look for.
The Council filed FOIA requests to CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to uncover information about the databases and how the agencies use them.
Read more: Uncovering Immigration Enforcement Agency Databases
NOTEWORTHY
- Lawsuit Stopped ICE from Destroying Records
A judge ruled that ICE cannot destroy records about abuses in its facilities, including the use of solitary confinement, sexual abuse, and questionable deaths in detention.
Last year the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) approved ICE’s plans to destroy these records without addressing serious public comments. Three organizations sued NARA over its approval of the records destruction.
The court found that “NARA failed to evaluate the research value of the ICE records and that NARA failed to address significant and relevant public comments.”
The Council filed an amicus brief in the case, supporting the challenge by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, American Historical Association, and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. In the amicus brief, the Council and partners documented the reliance on the records slated for destruction by researchers and advocates to monitor and expose ICE’s troubling practices.
Read more: Stopping the Destruction of ICE's Records on Abuse and Mistreatment of People in Detention
- Improving Access to Immigration Files
A court ordered U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and ICE to eliminate immigration file FOIA backlogs and comply with the statutory timeframe in December 2020 for the case Nightingale et al v. USCIS et al.
The agencies provided their first update to the court about compliance with the order. USCIS stated that, among other steps, it had:
- Increased its staff by approximately 136 staff members.
- Approved over $5 million in emergency funds and employee overtime to comply with the court’s order.
USCIS reported that DHS did not approve the agency’s request for $150 million to support USCIS’s FOIA program for Fiscal Years 2022 through 2026.
Read more: Lawsuit Challenges Systemic USCIS and ICE FOIA Delays
DOCUMENT DIVE
- Border Patrol Agents Screening for Asylum
Under the Trump administration, CBP expanded the role of some of its officers to include the screening of asylum seekers—historically, the responsibility of USCIS asylum officers trained on the complexities of the asylum process.
We sought more information about this program and reviewed thousands of pages, many including USCIS training materials that provide important insight into how the agency conducts screenings and adjudicates claims for asylum. While the program was enjoined, we continue pressing the agency for information that exposes how CBP operated beyond its established mission.
Read more: Government Records on CBP Conducting Asylum Screenings
DIG DEEPER
- How the Council Uses FOIA to Hold the Government Accountable
Information requests play an outsized role in the fight for transparency in the immigration system. Experts from the Council discussed why FOIA is such an important tool and highlighted how we use it to uncover records.
Learn more: Watch the Webinar Recording
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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