Mayorkas ICE Death Emails
It is a clone of this request.
| Tracking # |
2023-HQFO-01566 |
| Submitted | May 11, 2023 |
| Due | June 9, 2023 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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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:
Part A. S1 Deaths In ICE Custody Emails Meta-Data (or, alternatively, the Emails themselves)
A metadata list of all emails sent or received by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas since February 2021, containing one or more of the following words or phrases:
(1) “Death in custody”; (2) “In-Custody Death”; (3) “Detainee Death”; (4) “Inmate Death”; (5) “prisoner death” or (6) “ICE Directive 11003.5”.
Please provide metadata showing: date sent, sender, attachments, file size, recipients (CC & BCC), and subject line.
If the agency’s position is that the existing meta-data necessary to provide this list is not a pre-existing agency record, we will instead accept each and every non-duplicative responsive email.
Part B. S1 ICE Custody Death Calendar Entries
A list of all calendar entries for Sec. Mayorkas since February 2022 reflecting any meeting the Secretary or a DHS designee was invited to or attended about ICE in-custody deaths, as reflected by the time of the meeting or any text accompanying the calendar invite.
Part C. S1 Names of the 9 In-Custody Deaths on His Watch Meta-Data (or, alternatively, the Emails themselves)
All emails sent or received by DHS Secretary Mayorkas since February 2, 2021, referencing any of the following 9 individuals who have passed away in or shortly after being released from ICE custody since the Secretary’s confirmation:
(1) Jesse Jermone Dean Jr. The Bahamas 3/21/1962 2/5/2021 58 Calhoun County Jail
Battle Creek, Michigan (Calhoun Co. Michigan)
(2) Diego Fernando Gallego-Agudelo Colombia 3/15/2021 45 Port Isabel Detention Center, Los Fresnos, TX (Ahtna)
(3) Elba Maria Centeno Briones Nicaragua 3/23/84 8/3/2021 37 El Valle Valley Detention Facility, Harlingen, TX (MTC)
(4) Pablo Sanchez-Gotopo Venezuela 6/3/1981 10/1/2021 40 Adams County Detention Center, Natchez, Mississippi (CoreCivic)
(5) Benjamin Gonzalez-Soto Mexico 11/24/1985 7/8/2022 36 Florence SPC, & Central AZ Correctional Complex, Florence, Arizona (CoreCivic)
(6) Kesley Vial Brazil 8/29/98 8/24/2022 23 Torrance County Detention Center, Estancia, New Mexico (CoreCivic)
(7) Melvin Calero Nicaragua 9/29/83 10/13/2022 39 Aurora ICE Processing Center, Denver, Colorado (GEO)
(8) Cristian Dimitriscu Romania 3/7/2023 Otay Mesa Detention Center, Otay Mesa, California (CoreCivic)
(9) Salvador Vargas Mexico 4/4/2023 61 Stewart Detention Center, Lumpkin, Georgia (CoreCivic)
There appear to be no meaningful consequences for a federal contractor that allows a preventable death in ICE custody. Retraining, a contract penalty amounting to just 20% of a single month’s invoice, or multiple contract penalties amounting to only $700k for two deaths, are the only measurable penalties ICE has publicly admitted to levying against contractors whose violation of their contracts take lives. ICE does not announce these penalties, or the findings supporting them, publicly. Perhaps they do not even share them with the Secretary of Homeland Security. We’d like to know if he’s asked.
Secretary Mayorkas committed on camera to operating ICE detention facilities in a safe and humane manner. To this end, he has also committed to reviewing performance of facilities and cancelling contracts that fail to ensure humans are safe and cared for in accordance with federal requirements. Yet the facilities listed above, which are sites of repeat findings of violations, and repeat deaths, are all
Expedited Processing Request
Pursuant to 6 CFR 5.5(e), we hereby request expedited processing of this request, and certify under penalty of perjury that the following is true and correct to the best of our knowledge and understanding:
Deaths in ICE custody have been the subject of widespread and exceptional media interest both historically and today. The very first in-custody ICE death listed above was found by DHS-OIG to have been preventable, and the result of medical neglect by ICE-contracted facility staff. See, https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2023-02/OIG-23-12-Feb23.pdf (“Our contracted medical team reviewed the other four deaths in ICE detention in FY 2021 and found one individual was not provided timely or appropriate care by medical staff at the Calhoun County Jail in Battle Creek, Michigan.”). Despite the OIG’s findings that Calhoun County and its medical contractor, the now-bankrupt Corizon (see https://www.alreporter.com/2023/02/17/corizon-prison-healthcare-provider-declares-bankruptcy-yescare-apparently-replaces-ceo/), failed to render timely or appropriate medical care to Jessie Dean before his death, ICE continues to contract with the County for the imprisonment of non-citizens, further endangering the lives of people locked inside.
As ICE is about to rapidly expand its average daily population with the end of Title 42, our community is deeply concerned that DHS is unprepared to care for those it locks up. Expedited access to these records will help dispel or confirm these concerns, and position our network to take the appropriate actions necessary to prevent preventable deaths where the government refuses to do so.
#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: Department of Homeland Security
08/01/2023SENT VIA E-MAIL TO: 145718-36471619@requests.muckrock.comAndrew FreeN/AMuckRock News, DEPT MR145718263 Huntington AveBoston, Massachusetts 02115Re: 2023-HQFO-01566Dear Mr. Free:This letter acknowledges receipt of your 5/12/2023, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), for:Part A. S1 Deaths In ICE Custody Emails Meta-Data (or, alternatively, the Emails themselves)A metadata list of all emails sent or received by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas since February 2021, containing one or more of the following words or phrases:(1) “Death in custody”; (2) “In-Custody Death”; (3) “Detainee Death”; (4) “Inmate Death”; (5) “prisoner death” or (6) “ICE Directive 11003.5”.Please provide metadata showing: date sent, sender, attachments, file size, recipients (CC & BCC), and subject line.If the agency’s position is that the existing meta-data necessary to provide this list is not a pre-existing agency record, we will instead accept each and every non-duplicative responsive email.Part B. S1 ICE Custody Death Calendar EntriesA list of all calendar entries for Sec. Mayorkas since February 2022 reflecting any meeting the Secretary or a DHS designee was invited to or attended about ICE in-custody deaths, as reflected by the time of the meeting or any text accompanying the calendar invite.Part C. S1 Names of the 9 In-Custody Deaths on His Watch Meta-Data (or, alternatively, the Emails themselves)All emails sent or received by DHS Secretary Mayorkas since February 2, 2021, referencing any of the following 9 individuals who have passed away in or shortly after being released from ICE custody since the Secretary’s confirmation:(1) Jesse Jermone Dean Jr. The Bahamas 3/21/1962 2/5/2021 58 Calhoun County JailBattle Creek, Michigan (Calhoun Co. Michigan)(2) Diego Fernando Gallego-Agudelo Colombia 3/15/2021 45 Port Isabel Detention Center, Los Fresnos, TX (Ahtna)(3) Elba Maria Centeno Briones Nicaragua 3/23/84 8/3/2021 37 El Valle Valley Detention Facility, Harlingen, TX (MTC)(4) Pablo Sanchez-Gotopo Venezuela 6/3/1981 10/1/2021 40 Adams County Detention Center, Natchez, Mississippi (CoreCivic)(5) Benjamin Gonzalez-Soto Mexico 11/24/1985 7/8/2022 36 Florence SPC, & Central AZ Correctional Complex, Florence, Arizona (CoreCivic)(6) Kesley Vial Brazil 8/29/98 8/24/2022 23 Torrance County Detention Center, Estancia, New Mexico (CoreCivic)(7) Melvin Calero Nicaragua 9/29/83 10/13/2022 39 Aurora ICE Processing Center, Denver, Colorado (GEO)(8) Cristian Dimitriscu Romania 3/7/2023 Otay Mesa Detention Center, Otay Mesa, California (CoreCivic)(9) Salvador Vargas Mexico 4/4/2023 61 Stewart Detention Center, Lumpkin, Georgia (CoreCivic)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, the Department processes FOIA requests according to their order of receipt. Although DHS’ 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). As your request seeks documents that will require a thorough and wide-ranging search, DHS will invoke a 10-day extension for your request pursuant to 6 C.F.R. Part 5 § 5.5(c). If you would like 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 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. This office will contact you before accruing any further fees.We have queried the appropriate component(s) of DHS for responsive records. If any responsive records are located, they will be reviewed for determination of releasability. Please be assured that one of the analysts 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 2023-HQFO-01566. Please refer to this identifier in any future correspondence. The status of your FOIA request is now available online and can be accessed at: https://foiarequest.dhs.gov/app/CheckStatus.aspx, by using this FOIA request number. Status information is updated daily. If you have any questions, or would like to discuss this matter, please feel free to contact this office at 1-866-431-0486 or 202-343-1743.
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: 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 May 12, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #2023-HQFO-01566.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Department of Homeland Security
Hi Andrew Free,
You have a new message for the request 2023-HQFO-01566. Please login to the SecureRelease Portal to read the message. (https://www.securerelease.us/request-details/37f20e61-d15a-4b4a-8f44-9007902cfec2/3/messages/c3009174-09d0-4d43-83ac-99d8afd3dd89)
| noreply@securerelease.us is not monitored by a FOIA Office or Agency personnel. Replies sent to this address will not be reviewed.
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: 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 May 12, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #2023-HQFO-01566.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Department of Homeland Security
"Good morning,
Good afternoon,
Thanks for reaching out to this office. We appreciate your frustration with the delay in our ability to respond to your request and apologize that we are not able to give you a more precise estimate of when you can expect to receive our response. At this time, our general expectation is that we will be able to send you a final response in the next three to four months.
Please understand that our office handles a very large volume of requests – in one month we respond to more requests on average than most Departments receive in a year. In addition to handling a large volume of requests, we are also responsible for processing a variety of particularly sensitive types of records. We have a responsibility to ensure that we carefully review all of the records we process to ensure that we provide maximum transparency while withholding any exempt material that could foreseeably cause harm to a protected interest. This is a labor-intensive task that involves working with offices to ensure that any potentially responsive materials are provided to us and then conducting a page-by-page and line-by-line review of all responsive records.
OCIO has provided us with potentially responsive records and your request has been added to our processing queue. It is very difficult to provide an accurate estimated date of completion until our FOIA analyst reviews these records for responsiveness and we have a better sense of the number of pages and the sensitivity of the material. The Privacy Office is also processing numerous FOIA Requests related to COVID-19; many of these requesters asked and qualified for expedited processing, meaning that they are required to be placed at the front of the queue. Again, our general expectation is that we will be able to send you a final response within three to four months. Please know that this estimate may change dramatically based on the volume of work associated with our expedited COVID-19 requests and on the types of records that OCIO has provided us for your request. Regardless of the specificity of your request, we cannot accurately estimate the amount of time it will take to process the records until we understand both the volume and sensitivity of the records.
While we are sure this is not the response you hoped for, we hope that this information is useful to you. Please let us know if you need any additional assistance.
Regards,
DHS FOIA, Privacy Office"
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 May 12, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #2023-HQFO-01566.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Department of Homeland Security
"Good afternoon,
Your request is in the "Records Prep Complete - Ready to Assign for Records Review" phase.
It is very difficult to provide an accurate estimated date of completion until our FOIA analyst reviews these records for responsiveness and we have a better sense of the number of pages and the sensitivity of the material. Our general expectation is that we will be able to send you a final response within 3-4 months. Please know that this estimate may change dramatically based on the volume of work associated with our expedited requests and on the types of records that the program office has provided us for your request. Regardless of the specificity of your request, we cannot accurately estimate the amount of time it will take to process the record until we understand both the volume and sensitivity of the records.
Regards,
DHS Privacy"
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 May 12, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #2023-HQFO-01566.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
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 May 12, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #2023-HQFO-01566.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
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 May 12, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #2023-HQFO-01566.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Andrew Free
I appeal the agency's constructive denial of this request, the failure to make and communicate to me a "determination" within the period allowed by law, and the failure to comply with statutory requirement to provide me an estimated date of production.
From: Department of Homeland Security
Good Afternoon,
Attached is our acknowledgment of your DHS FOIA appeal request. If you need to contact this office again concerning your request, please provide the DHS reference number.
This will enable us to quickly retrieve the information you are seeking and reduce our response time. This office can be reached at 866-431-0486.
Regards,
DHS FOIA, Privacy Office
Department of Homeland Security
2707 Martin Luther King Jr. AVE SE
Mail Stop 0655
Washington, DC 20528-0655
E-mail: foia@hq.dhs.gov
Visit our FOIA website https://www.dhs.gov/foia
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6525733-20250410144028108