Death in Custody Reports (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
| Tracking # |
2023-ICAP-00450 2023-ICFO-26205 |
| Multi Request | Death in Custody Reports |
| Submitted | May 12, 2023 |
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Communications
From: Andrew Free
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Section 3(a)(2)(B) of the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013, 42 USC 13727a, provides: the “head of each Federal law enforcement agency shall submit to the Attorney General a report . . . that contains information regarding the death of any person who is— . . . (2) en route to be incarcerated or detained, or is incarcerated or detained at—(A) any facility (including ANY IMMIGRATION OR JUVENILE FACILITY) pursuant to a contract with such Federal law enforcement agency.”
Please provide all notifications your agency has made pursuant to this statute beginning February 1, 2015 and continuing until the date of your tasking an adequate search in response to this request.
Thank you,
#DetentionKills Transparency Initiative
Al Otro Lado
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,
Andrew Free
From: Immigration and Customs Enforcement
06/01/2023Andrew FreeMuckRock News, DEPT MR145767Boston, Massachusetts 02115RE: ICE FOIA Case Number 2023-ICFO-26205 Dear Requester:This acknowledges receipt of your 5/15/2023, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for: - all notifications your agency has made pursuant to Section 3(a)(2)(B) of the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013, 42 USC 13727a, beginning February 1, 2015 and continuing until the date of your tasking an adequate search in response to this request. Your request was received in this office on 5/15/2023.Due to the increasing number of FOIA requests received by this office, we may encounter some delay in processing your request. Per Section 5.5(a) of the DHS FOIA regulations, 6 C.F.R. Part 5, ICE processes FOIA requests according to their order of receipt. Although ICE’s goal is to respond within 20 business days of receipt of your request, the FOIA does permit a 10-day extension of this time period. As your request seeks numerous documents that will necessitate a thorough and wide-ranging search, ICE will invoke a 10-day extension for your request, as allowed by Title 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B). If you’re able to narrow the scope of your request please contact our office. Narrowing the scope may speed up the search process. We will make every effort to comply with your request in a timely manner.Provisions of the FOIA allow us to recover part of the cost of complying with your request. We shall charge you for records in accordance with the DHS Interim FOIA regulations, as they apply to media requesters. As a media requester, you will be charged 10 cents per page for duplication; the first 100 pages are free. We will construe the submission of your request as an agreement to pay up to $25.00. You will be contacted before any further fees are accrued.We have queried the appropriate program offices within ICE for responsive records. If any responsive records are located, they will be reviewed for determination of releasability. Please be assured that one of the processors in our office will respond to your request as expeditiously as possible. We appreciate your patience as we proceed with your request.If you have any questions, please contact FOIA Public Liaison, Fernando Pineiro Jr. at the address above or (866) 633-1182. 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.Your request has been assigned reference number 2023-ICFO-26205. Please use this number in future correspondence. Sincerely,ICE FOIA OfficeImmigration and Customs EnforcementFreedom of Information Act Office500 12th Street, S.W., Stop 5009Washington, D.C. 20536-5009
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v.E.1
From: Immigration and Customs Enforcement
07/07/2023Andrew FreeMuckRock News, DEPT MR145767Boston, Massachusetts 02115RE: ICE FOIA Case Number 2023-ICFO-26205 Dear Requester:This letter is the final response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), dated 5/15/2023. You have requested all notifications your agency has made pursuant to Section 3(a)(2)(B) of the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013, 42 USC 13727a, beginning February 1, 2015 and continuing until the date of your tasking an adequate search in response to this request.ICE has considered your request under both the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552, and the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a. Information about an individual that is maintained in a Privacy Act system of records may be accessed by that individual unless the agency has exempted the system of records from the access provisions of the Privacy Act. ICE has conducted a search of the ICE Office Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and ICE Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) for records responsive to your request and no records responsive to your request were found. OPR noted that the DCRA applies to states, not federal agencies. OPR recommends the requestor to visit https://www.bja.ojp.gov/program/dcra/overview. 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) (2006 & Supp. IV (2010). 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.While an adequate search was conducted, you have the right to appeal this determination that no records exist within that would be responsive to your request. Should you wish to do so, you must send your appeal and a copy of the original response letter, within 90 days of the date of the letter following the procedures outlined in the DHS FOIA regulations at 6 C.F.R. Part 5 § 5.8. You may submit your appeal electronically at GILDFOIAAppeals@ice.dhs.gov or via regular mail to: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of the Principal Legal Advisor U.S. Department of Homeland Security 500 12th Street, S.W., Mail Stop 5900 Washington, D.C. 20536-5900Your envelope and letter should be marked “FOIA Appeal.” Copies of the FOIA and DHS regulations are available at www.dhs.gov/foia. Provisions of FOIA allow DHS to charge for processing fees, up to $25, unless you seek a waiver of fees. In this instance, because the cost is below the $25 minimum, there is no charge. If you have any questions please contact FOIA Public Liaison Fernando Pineiro Jr. at (866) 633-1182 or 500 12th St., SW Stop 5009 Washington, DC 20536-5009 and refer to your tracking number. Additionally, you have a right to 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. Sincerely,Angela Flores(A)Supervisory Paralegal SpecialistICE FOIA OfficeImmigration and Customs EnforcementFreedom of Information Act Office500 12th Street, S.W., Stop 5009Washington, D.C. 20536-5009 ERO and OPR
This message (including any attachments) contains confidential information intended for a specific individual and purpose, and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you should delete this message and any disclosure, copying, or distribution
of this message, or the taking of any action based on it, by you is strictly prohibited.
Deloitte refers to a Deloitte member firm, one of its related entities, or Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited ("DTTL"). Each Deloitte member firm is a separate legal entity and a member of DTTL. DTTL does not provide services to clients. Please see www.deloitte.com/about
to learn more.
v.E.1
From: Andrew Free
We appeal.
In your denial, you state:
“ICE has conducted a search of the ICE Office Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and ICE Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) for records responsive to your request and no records responsive to your request were found. OPR noted that the DCRA applies to states, not federal agencies. OPR recommends the requestor to visit https://www.bja.ojp.gov/program/dcra/overview.”
The requestor, in turn recommends ICE ERO and ICE OPR visit:
https://bja.ojp.gov/doc/DOJ-Implementation-of-DCRA-of-2013.pdf. The Attorney General’s instructions in this implementation guidance could not be clearer: “Federal law enforcement agencies are likewise required under DCRA to report to the Attorney General “the death of any person who is detained, under arrest, or is in the process of being arrested by any officer of such Federal law enforcement agency (or by any State or local law enforcement officer while participating in and for purposes of a Federal law enforcement operation, task force, or any other Federal law enforcement capacity carried out by such Federal law enforcement agency); or (2) en route to be incarcerated or detained, or is incarcerated or detained at—(A) any facility (including any immigration or juvenile facility) pursuant to a contract with such Federal law enforcement agency; (B) any State or local government facility used by such Federal law enforcement agency; or (C) any Federal correctional facility or Federal pretrial detention facility located within the United States.”
Lest there be any doubt, the AG also states in the very next paragraph: “DCRA reporting requirements apply to all deaths that occur in federal, state, or local custody.”
Please confirm on appeal that ICE ERO and OPR have no records because they have been unlawfully exempting ICE from DCRA reporting. You may do that by ensuring the Director’s Office and Chief of Staff have no responsive records, rather than simply pushing down the search to ERO and OPR, which is the tactic your office uses to keep politically sensitive records of Senior Executive Service employees from being disclosed.
Shameful stuff here. Can’t even follow the law on reporting deaths in custody. Will ICE follow the law on responding? That’s up to you, OPLA!
Thank you,
From: Immigration and Customs Enforcement
**Please Do Not Respond Directly - This email has been sent on behalf of ice-foia@ice.dhs.gov**We have received your Freedom of Information Act request for Records related to the Appeal adequacy of search and have assigned it tracking number 2023-ICAP-00450, 2023-ICFO-26205. Please refer to the attached Acknowledgement Letter for more information.Sincerely,ICE FOIA OfficeImmigration and Customs EnforcementFreedom of Information Act Office500 12th Street, S.W., Stop 5009Washington, D.C. 20536-5009
This message (including any attachments) contains confidential information intended for a specific individual and purpose, and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you should delete this message and any disclosure, copying, or distribution
of this message, or the taking of any action based on it, by you is strictly prohibited.
Deloitte refers to a Deloitte member firm, one of its related entities, or Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited ("DTTL"). Each Deloitte member firm is a separate legal entity and a member of DTTL. DTTL does not provide services to clients. Please see www.deloitte.com/about
to learn more.
v.E.1
From: Immigration and Customs Enforcement
09/28/2023RE: ICE FOIA Case Number 2023-ICAP-00450, 2023-ICFO-26205 Dear Requester:ICE's final response to your FOIA request, 2023-ICAP-00450, for Appeal adequacy of search is attached.Please note that the attachment may be password protected. If you are prompted to enter a password when opening the attachment and you did not receive a password it may be in your junk/spam folder. Sincerely,ICE FOIA OfficeImmigration and Customs EnforcementFreedom of Information Act Office500 12th Street, S.W., Stop 5009Washington, D.C. 20536-5009
This message (including any attachments) contains confidential information intended for a specific individual and purpose, and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient, you should delete this message and any disclosure, copying, or distribution
of this message, or the taking of any action based on it, by you is strictly prohibited.
Deloitte refers to a Deloitte member firm, one of its related entities, or Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited ("DTTL"). Each Deloitte member firm is a separate legal entity and a member of DTTL. DTTL does not provide services to clients. Please see www.deloitte.com/about
to learn more.
v.E.1
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