Detention Standards Compliance Unit Reports 2019

Submitted on Monday, July 15, 2019 - 23:39
Submitted by user: Anonymous
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Select the DHS component you wish to submit your request to: : U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Title:
First Name: Andrew
Middle Initial:
Last Name: Free
Suffix:
Email Address: requests@muckrock.com
Country: United States
Address 1: MuckRock News, DEPT MR 77302
Address 2: 411A Highland Ave
City: Somerville
State: Massachusetts
Zip Code: 02144
Telephone Number: 6172991832
Fax Number:
Are you requesting records on yourself? No
If yes, you must check the perjury statement:
By initialing here you are providing your electronic signature.:
Please describe the records you are seeking as clearly and precisely as
possible:
To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following
records:

Please provide all reports, memoranda, or audits created or received on or
after January 1, 2019, by the ICE Detention Standards Compliance Unit for the
following ICE detention facilities:

1. Adelanto Detention Center
2. Northwest Detention Center
3. Stewart Detention Center
4. Cibola County Correctional Facility
5. Otay Mesa Detention Facility
6. Aurora Detention Center
7. Mesa Verde Detention Center
8. LaSalle Detention Facility
9. Irwin Detention Facility
10. Prairieland Detention Facility
11. South Texas Detention Center
12. Berks Family Residential Center
13. South Texas Family Residential Center
14. Karnes City Family Residential Center
15. Eloy Detention Facility
16. La Palma Detention Facility
17. Port Isabel Detention Facility
18. Folktson Detention Facility
19. Farmville Detention Facility

Separately, please provide any communications occurring on or after January
1, 2019, between ICE's Detention Standards Compliance Unit and any of the
following contractors regarding compliance or non-compliance with ICE's
Performance-Based National Detention Standards:

1. CoreCivic
2. The GEO Group
3. LaSalle Corrections
4. Ahtna
5. Emerald Corrections
6. Management Training Corporation

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

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July 15, 2020 Andrew Free MuckRock News 411A Highland Ave Somerville, MA 02144 RE:     ICE FOIA Case Number 2020-ICFO-64605 Dear Mr. Free: This acknowledges receipt of your July 9, 2020, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for records pertaining to the ICE Detention Standards Compliance Unit for various ICE detention facilities on or after January 1, 2019 as well as communications between ICE's Detention Standards Compliance Unit and various contractors on or after January 1, 2019 (see request for details).  Your request was received in this office on July 9, 2020. 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 care to narrow the scope of your request, please contact our office. 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.
Your request has been assigned reference number 2020-ICFO-64605. Please refer to this identifier in any future correspondence. To check the status of an ICE FOIA/PA request, please visit . Please note that to check the status of a request, you must enter the 2020-ICFO-64605 tracking number. If you need any further assistance or would like to discuss any aspect of your request, please contact the FOIA office. You may send an e-mail to ice-foia@ice.dhs.gov, call toll free (866) 633-1182, or you may contact our FOIA Public Liaison, Fernando Pineiro, in the same manner. 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. (http://www.dhs.gov/foia-status) http://www.dhs.gov/foia-status
Regards,

ICE FOIA Office
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Freedom of Information Act Office
500 12th Street, S.W., Stop 5009
Washington, D.C. 20536-5009
Telephone: 1-866-633-1182
Visit our FOIA website at www.ice.gov/foia

Mr. Free,

ICE's final response to your FOIA request, 2020-ICFO-64605, for records pertaining to the ICE Detention Standards Compliance Unit for various ICE detention facilities on or after January 1, 2019, as well as communications between ICE's Detention Standards Compliance Unit and various contractors on or after January 1, 2019 (see request for details) is attached.

Sincerely,
ICE FOIA

**Please Do Not Respond Directly -This email has been sent on behalf of ice-foia@dhs.gov**

We have received your Freedom of Information Act request for Appealing search of records and have assigned it tracking number 2021-ICAP-00843. Please refer to the attached Acknowledgement Letter for more information.

ICE FOIA.

Mr. Free,

ICE's final response to your FOIA request, 2021-ICAP-00843, for Appealing search of records 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

Mr. Free,

ICE's final response to your FOIA request, 2021-ICAP-00843, for Appealing search of records is attached.

Sincerely,
ICE FOIA

**Please Do Not Respond Directly -This email has been sent on behalf of ice-foia@dhs.gov**

We have received your Freedom of Information Act request for We hereby appeal. Again.By claiming no responsive records exist, ICE's implied position on remand is that the agency's DetentionStandards Compliance Unit received no reports, memoranda, or audits regarding the facilities listed in ourrequest, and that the agency had no communications with contractors about compliance with standards.Pretty tough to understand what exactly the Standards Compliance Unit was doing to ensure systemsactors complied with standards, if that's the case.In a 2020 declaration, ICE's Jay Brooks testified under oath that from 2011-2020, she was Deputy AssistantDirector in charge of ICE's Detention Management Division, which included oversight of the DCSU.According to Brooks' sworn testimony, "Through a robust inspections program, the DCSU ensuresdetention facilities used to detain aliens in immigration proceedings or awaiting removal to their countriesdo so in accordance with ICE national detention standards, and ensure that detainees are housed in theleast restrictive environment consistent with the safety and security of the detainees and of orderly facilityoperations. The DCSU oversees ICE's third-party facility inspections contract and the DetentionManagement Compliance Program ("DMCP") for all ICE authorized detention facilities."Here is an example of a publicly released Memorandum DCSU Deputy Assistant Directer Jay Brcf\ks-wrote -to now-Acting Director Tae Johnson in 2019:https ://www.ice.gov/doclib/facilitylnspections/tulsaCoOK _ FinalRec 03-14-2019 .pdf. We believe there arememoranda like this from Brooks to Johnson for the facilities listed in the original request.We therefore challenge this demonstrably inadequate search. Please remand and end this (seeminglyendless) cycle of egregious FOIA search adequacy violations. and have assigned it tracking number 2023-ICAP-00174. Please refer to the attached Acknowledgement Letter for more information.

ICE FOIA.

Mr. Free,

ICE's final response to your FOIA request, 2023-ICAP-00174, for We hereby appeal. Again.By claiming no responsive records exist, ICE's implied position on remand is that the agency's DetentionStandards Compliance Unit received no reports, memoranda, or audits regarding the facilities listed in ourrequest, and that the agency had no communications with contractors about compliance with standards.Pretty tough to understand what exactly the Standards Compliance Unit was doing to ensure systemsactors complied with standards, if that's the case.In a 2020 declaration, ICE's Jay Brooks testified under oath that from 2011-2020, she was Deputy AssistantDirector in charge of ICE's Detention Management Division, which included oversight of the DCSU.According to Brooks' sworn testimony, "Through a robust inspections program, the DCSU ensuresdetention facilities used to detain aliens in immigration proceedings or awaiting removal to their countriesdo so in accordance with ICE national detention standards, and ensure that detainees are housed in theleast restrictive environment consistent with the safety and security of the detainees and of orderly facilityoperations. The DCSU oversees ICE's third-party facility inspections contract and the DetentionManagement Compliance Program ("DMCP") for all ICE authorized detention facilities."Here is an example of a publicly released Memorandum DCSU Deputy Assistant Directer Jay Brcf\ks-wrote -to now-Acting Director Tae Johnson in 2019:https ://www.ice.gov/doclib/facilitylnspections/tulsaCoOK _ FinalRec 03-14-2019 .pdf. We believe there arememoranda like this from Brooks to Johnson for the facilities listed in the original request.We therefore challenge this demonstrably inadequate search. Please remand and end this (seeminglyendless) cycle of egregious FOIA search adequacy violations. 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