Category FOIA
U.S. Customs FOIA Office FAQs
On May 7, 2014, JCS Immigration and Visa Law Office, an immigration attorney’s office in Los Angeles, CA obtained information on frequently asked questions about U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)’s FOIA Office. We have included these FAQs below for your convenience. The Freedom of Information Act allows citizens and non-citizens to request information about […]
Homeland Security Launches New FOIA Request Form
The Department of Homeland Security has continuously sought to improve the customer experience when submitting a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. In April 2012, the DHS Privacy Office redesigned their FOIA website, in order to improve usability. Earlier this month, the DHS Privacy Office deployed a consolidated web-based form, which allows FOIA requesters to […]
FOIA Requests for Form I-130
The USCIS National Records Center (NRC) has confirmed that for FOIA requests seeking a complete and unredacted copy of Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, a G-28 and/or consent must be completed by both the petitioner and beneficiary of the petition. Otherwise, the released I-130 will be redacted to exclude the information of the non-consenting […]
ICE Refuses FOIA Request on Immigration Court Filings
On August 7, 2012 the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) sent the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a letter responding to the agency’s July 26 FOIA refusal to process TRAC’s request for case-by-case information in anonymous form on the 75,044 Notices to Appear (NTAs) the agency had filed in the Immigration Courts during the first […]
Immigration File Backlog Hinders Immigrants’ Ability to Fight Deportation
SALT LAKE CITY — Hector Valencia has a deportation hearing June 11. But before he faces an immigration judge, he wants a copy of his complete immigration file to prepare his defense. His attempt to get the documents from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under the Freedom of Information Act hit a wall, so […]
Administration Folds in Immigration FOIA Fight
Josh Gerstein reports on Politico that the Obama administration “has quietly thrown in the towel” in its effort “to prevent disclosure of internal legal memos about its plans to force local law enforcement agencies to participate in the controversial immigration-enforcement system known as Secure Communities.” Gerstein said the government “also admitted it made an embarrassing […]
JCS U.S. Immigration & Visa Law Office 