CBP OPR Ramey Complaint Jan 2022-Feb 2023
| Tracking # |
CBP-FO-2024-059971 |
| Submitted | Feb. 14, 2024 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Carlos Berríos Polanco
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
I am seeking any and all records, communications, attachments, media, reports, and complaints concerning an incident between Wilmar Rodriguez and Gilberto Velez in Puerto Rico. The incident likely occured at US Border Patrol Ramey Station. According to public court records, Wilmar Rodriguez filed a complaint with the Office of Professional Responsibility which resulted in an investigation that concluded in February 2023. This request is looking for all records produced between January 1, 2022 and February 30, 2023.
By Velez's own admission in his filing: "Notwithstanding, Mr. Wilmar Rodriguez contacted Acting Chief Patrol Agent to complaint alleging that he has [sic] been intimidated by plaintiff [Gilberto Velez]. As a result of that complaint Office of Professional Responsibility OPR was contacted, and an investigation was conducted until a decision was reached in February 2023, finding plaintiff guilty of misconduct, and proposing a 14-day suspension. Plaintiff was allowed to make an oral reply and the disciplinary action was reduced to a two-day suspension. DC Arias ordered him to serve his suspension on February 22 and 23, 2023."
Public court records containing the above quote and additional context concerning the above mentioned can be found here: According to public federal court records found at this link (https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68209604/1/gilberto-v-united-states-government/)
Keywords include: Wilmar Rodriguez; Gilberto Velez; Complaint; OPR; Office of Professional Responsibility; OPR; Ramey; Ramey Border Station Complaint
If responsive documents are found, please send them to me on a rolling basis.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Carlos Berríos Polanco
From: United States Customs and Border Protection
Carlos Polanco
N/A
MuckRock News, DEPT MR158776
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
02/16/2024
CBP-FO-2024-059971
Dear Carlos Polanco:
This notice acknowledges receipt of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) received on 2/14/2024. Please use the following unique FOIA tracking number CBP-FO-2024-059971 to track the status of your request. If you have not already done so, you must create a SecureRelease account. This is the only method available to check the status of your pending FOIA request.
Provisions of the Act allow us to recover part of the cost of complying with your request. We shall charge you for records in accordance with the DHS FOIA regulations outlined on the DHS website, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/11/22/2016-28095/freedom-of-information-act-regulations. By submitting your request, you have agreed to pay up to $25.00 in applicable processing fees, if any fees associated with your request exceed this amount, CBP shall contact you.
Due to the increasing number of FOIA requests received by this office, we may encounter some delay in processing your request. Consistent with 6 C.F.R. Part 5 § 5.5(a) of the DHS FOIA regulations, CBP processes FOIA requests according to their order of receipt. Although CBP’s goal is to respond within 20 business days of receipt of your request, FOIA does permit a 10-day extension of this time period in certain circumstances pursuant to 6 C.F.R. Part 5 § 5.5(c).
CBP’s FOIA Division is working hard to reduce the amount of time necessary to respond to FOIA requests. We truly appreciate your continued patience.
For additional information please consult CBP FOIA website please click on FOIA Act Resources or visit http://www.cbp.gov/site-policy-notices/foia.
Please note that this message has been sent from an unmonitored e-mail account. Any messages sent to this account will not be read.
Sincerely,
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 14, 2024. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #CBP-FO-2024-059971.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: United States Customs and Border Protection
07/02/2024
Request Number: CBP-FO-2024-059971
Dear Carlos Polanco:
Please use the following link to navigate to your documents. This link will be available for 365 days.
To retrieve the records associated with this request use this link Released Documents for Request CBP-FO-2024-059971 or enter https://www.securerelease.us/request-details/DB33F058-5866-4E36-9D0C-03C8EB628A09/2 in your browser’s address bar.
Please login or create a new user account using the email address associated with your records request: requests@muckrock.com
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12889340-20240702133350994
From: United States Customs and Border Protection
Carlos Polanco
N/A
MuckRock News, DEPT MR158776
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
07/02/2024
CBP-FO-2024-059971
Dear Carlos Polanco:
A search of CBP databases produced records responsive to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request CBP-FO-2024-059971, requesting records maintained by CBP.
CBP has determined that the responsive records are partially releasable, pursuant to Title 5 U.S.C. § 552 and have applied the appropriate exemptions notated below:
Exemption Summary:
(b)(2)
Pursuant to exemption (b)(2), 0 pages have been withheld in full and 33 pages in part.
Permits withholding of records related solely to internal rules and practices.
(b)(6)
Pursuant to exemption (b)(6), 0 pages have been withheld in full and 28 pages in part.
Permits withholding of records and information about individuals when disclosure would be a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
(b)(7)(C)
Pursuant to exemption (b)(7)(C), 0 pages have been withheld in full and 28 pages in part.
Permits withholding of records when an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy could reasonably be expected.
(b)(7)(E)
Pursuant to exemption (b)(7)(E), 0 pages have been withheld in full and 33 pages in part.
Permits withholding of records when techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or process would be disclosed or provided such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of law.
Pursuant to DHS Instruction 262-11-004, FOIA Officers at DHS have been instructed to withhold personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive personally identifiable information (SPII) of DHS personnel unless a determination is made that the disclosure does not raise security or privacy concerns, or if those concerns are outweighed by any public interest in that information. This policy is available online. Under this policy, the names of senior leaders, spokespersons, and political appointees are generally releasable. With respect to this FOIA request, DHS may have applied FOIA Exemption 6 to protect PII of DHS employees, including names and contact information. To the extent that has DHS withheld employee PII within these records, it has been determined that the employee(s) has/have substantial and legitimate privacy interests and that these interests are not outweighed by any public interest in the operations of the Department.
For your information, Congress excluded three discrete categories of law enforcement and national security records from the requirements of the FOIA. See 5 U.S.C. 552(c). This response is limited to those records that are subject to the requirements of the FOIA. This is a standard notification that is given to all our requesters and should not be taken as an indication that excluded records do, or do not, exist.
You may notice a recent date on the attached records. This is the date our processor queried the record in response to your FOIA request. For clarity, it is not the date the agency first created the record.
The following item(s) also apply to your request:
• Approximately zero pages were withheld in their entirety.
• Fees: In the processing of this FOIA request, no fees are being assessed.
• Other:
This completes the CBP response to your request. You may contact CBP's FOIA Public Liaison, Charlyse Hoskins, by sending an email via your SecureRelease account, mailing a letter to 90 K St, NE MS 1181, Washington DC, 20229 or by calling 202-325-0150. (If you need telecommunication relay service (TRS) assistance to communicate with the CBP FOIA Office and you are in the United States, please dial 711 to obtain TRS assistance and notify the Communications Assistant that you want to contact the CBP FOIA Office at the telephone number (202) 325-0150). The FOIA Public Liaison is able to assist in advising on the requirements for submitting a request, assist with narrowing the scope of a request, assist in reducing delays by advising the requester on the type of records to request, suggesting agency offices that may have responsive records and receive questions or concerns about the agency’s FOIA process. Please notate file number CBP-FO-2024-059971 on any future correspondence to CBP related to this request.
If you are not satisfied with the response to this request, you have a right to appeal the final disposition. Should you wish to do so, you must file your appeal within 90 days of the date of this letter following the procedures outlined in the DHS regulations at Title 6 C.F.R. §5.8. Please include as much information as possible to help us understand the grounds for your appeal. You should submit your appeal via your SecureRelease account . If you do not have computer access, you may send your appeal and a copy of this letter to: FOIA Appeals, Policy and Litigation Branch, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 90 K Street, NE, 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20229-1177. Your envelope and letter should be marked "FOIA Appeal." Copies of the FOIA and DHS regulations are available at www.dhs.gov/foia. Additional information can be found at the following link https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2019-Dec/definitions-exemptions-foia_0.pdf.
Additionally, you have a right to seek dispute resolution services from the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) which mediates disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies as a non-exclusive alternative to litigation. If you are requesting access to your own records (which is considered a Privacy Act request), you should know that OGIS does not have the authority to handle requests made under the Privacy Act of 1974. You may contact OGIS as follows: Office of Government Information Services, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001, e-mail at ogis@nara.gov; telephone at 202-741-5770; toll free at 1-877-684-6448; or facsimile at 202-741-5769. Please note that contacting the CBP FOIA Public Liaison or OGIS does not stop the 90-day appeal clock and is not a substitute for filing an administrative appeal.
Please note that this message has been sent from an unmonitored e-mail account. Any messages sent to this account will not be read.
Sincerely,
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
From: Carlos Berríos Polanco
Dear FOIA Appeals Officer,
I am writing to appeal the response to my Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, CBP-FO-2024-059971, received from United States Customs and Border Protection on July 2, 2024. The agency's response included redactions that, in my view, exceed the permissible exemptions under the FOIA.
Specifically, large portions of the document were redacted citing exemptions (b)(6), (b)(7)(C), (b)(7)(E), and (b)(2) without sufficient justification or explanation for each redaction. As a requester, I believe that the redactions made are not justified under the exemptions claimed and are excessive, thereby preventing me from fully understanding the content of the requested records.
Exemption (b)(6) protects information that, if disclosed, would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. The redacted information appears to exceed the scope of this exemption, as it does not meet the criteria for protecting personal privacy interests.
Exemption (b)(7)(C) allows for the withholding of information compiled for law enforcement purposes that could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. However, the redactions made under this exemption lack an adequate explanation of how disclosure would constitute such an invasion.
Exemption (b)(7)(E) permits the withholding of law enforcement techniques and procedures. While this exemption is intended to protect sensitive law enforcement information, the redacted material does not provide sufficient justification for how its disclosure would harm law enforcement efforts.
Exemption (b)(2) protects internal personnel rules and practices of an agency. However, the redactions made under this exemption require further explanation regarding how the release of this information would risk circumvention of agency regulations or policies.
I respectfully request a reevaluation of the redactions in accordance with the FOIA guidelines and applicable case law. Specifically, I am seeking a less redacted version of the documents that allows for greater transparency and access to the information that is in the public interest. In accordance with the FOIA, I am entitled to reasonably segregable portions of the records requested, and I believe that the current redactions go beyond what is necessary to protect the exempted material.
Furthermore, I request that the agency provide a Vaughn index or a detailed explanation for each redaction, including the specific exemption(s) claimed and a rationale for why each exemption applies to the redacted information. This will help me better understand the basis for the redactions and assess whether they are indeed justified under the law.
I appreciate your prompt attention to this appeal and request that it be processed expeditiously. Please acknowledge receipt of this appeal in writing and provide an estimated timeframe for when I can expect a decision.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Carlos Berríos Polanco
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