Unlawfully Delayed Folkston ICE Death Report
It is a clone of this request.
| Tracking # |
2024-ICFO-38604 |
| Submitted | May 28, 2024 |
| Due | June 26, 2024 |
| 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:
1. The Congressionally mandated ICE Detainee Death Report for Jaspal Singh, age 57, who died on April 15, 2024, at the GEO-owned Folkston ICE Processing Center in Folkston, Georgia.
2. All emails exchanged between ICE and GEO, ICE and CRCL, and ICE and Congress regarding the publication of the Congressionally Mandated Detainee Death Report sent or received between April 15, 2024, and May 28, 2024.
Expedited Processing Request
Pursuant to 6 CFR 5.5(e), I hereby request expedited processing and certify that the following is true and correct pursuant to 28 USC 1746:
1. I am a member of the media primarily engaged in information collection and dissemination.
2. Jaspal Singh died in ICE custody on April 15, 2024. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/indian-national-ice-custody-dies-hospital
3. Implementing Congressional Appropriations requirements, ICE’s death policy, ICE Directive 11003.5, Section 5.3, paragraph 4, mandates ICE make available to the public a detainee death report on its website within 30 days of a person’s death. See https://www.ice.gov/doclib/detention/directive11003-5.pdf.
4. ICE has previously failed to comply with this requirement -- most recently in the case of Charles Leo Daniel who died March 7, 2024, and before that, in the cases Frankline Okpu and Salvador Vargas, to name just a few.
5. The ICE Detainee Death Report for Mr. Singh is not online as of the date of this request.
6. ICE has engaged a pattern and practice of violating its own policy and Congressional appropriations requirements by failing to post death reports within the 30-day period following detainee deaths.
7. Hundreds of noncitizens currently reside inside involuntarily at GEO's Folkston facility.
8. Neither ICE nor any of its oversight bodies has publicly released information revealing the cause and manner of Mr. Singh's death.
Based on the above, there is an urgent need to inform the public regarding the facts surrounding Mr. Singh's death, and the steps the agency may have taken to prevent harm to other people locked inside the Folkston facility at government expense.
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
06/04/2024
Andrew Free
MuckRock News, DEPT MR164246
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
RE: ICE FOIA Case Number 2024-ICFO-38604
Dear Requester:
This acknowledges receipt of your 5/28/2024, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for detainee death report
pertaining to Jaspal Singh. Your request was received in this office on 5/28/2024.
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 2024-ICFO-38604. 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
Files
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