Dejene OPR Death Review & HSCA

03/18/2025

Andrew Free
MuckRock News, DEPT MR183016
Boston, Massachusetts 02115

RE: ICE FOIA Case Number 2025-ICFO-25088

Dear Requester:

This acknowledges receipt of your 3/13/2025, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for records related to the OPR - ERAU Detainee Death Report and (b) the accompanying Creative Corrections Healthcare and Security Compliance Analysis for Serawit Gezahegn Dejene. Your request was received in this office on 3/13/2025.

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 non-commercial requesters. As a non-commercial requester, you will be charged 10 cents per page for duplication; the first 100 pages are free, as are the first two hours of search time, after which you will pay the per quarter-hour rate ($4.00 for clerical personnel, $7.00 for professional personnel, $10.25 for managerial personnel) of the searcher. 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, Daniel Edgington at 500 12th Street, SW, Washington DC 20536 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.

Your request has been assigned reference number 2025-ICFO-25088. Please use this number in future correspondence.

Sincerely,

ICE FOIA Office
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Freedom of Information Act Office
500 12th Street, S.W., Stop 5009
Washington, D.C. 20536-5009

03/24/2025

Andrew Free
MuckRock News, DEPT MR183016
Boston, Massachusetts 02115

RE: ICE FOIA Case Number 2025-ICFO-25088

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 3/13/2025. You have requested records related to the OPR - ERAU Detainee Death Report and (b) the accompanying Creative Corrections Healthcare and Security Compliance Analysis for Serawit Gezahegn Dejene.

Due to the open status of ongoing law enforcement investigations, ICE has determined that the information you are requesting is withholdable in its entirety pursuant to Title 5 U.S.C. § 552 (b)(7)(A). FOIA Exemption 7(A) protects from disclosure records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, the release of which could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings. ICE has determined that the information you are seeking relates to ongoing law enforcement investigations. Therefore, ICE is withholding all records, documents, and/or other material, which if disclosed prior to completion, could reasonably be expected to interfere with law enforcement proceedings and final agency actions related to those proceedings. Please be advised that once all pending matters are resolved and FOIA Exemption 7(A) is no longer applicable, there may be other exemptions which could protect certain information from disclosure, such as FOIA Exemptions 6, 7(C), 7(D), 7(E) and/or 7(F).

You have a right to appeal the above withholding determination. Should you wish to do so, you must send your appeal and a copy of this letter, within 90 days of the date of this 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. 20536-5900

Your 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 ICE FOIA Public Liaison Daniel Edgington at (866) 633-1182 or 500 12th St., SW Stop 5009 Washington, DC 20536-5009. 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.

Sincerely,

Angela Flores

Supervisory Paralegal Specialist