DHS-OIG Systemwide DHS Detention Facility Audit

To Whom It May Concern:

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

During written testimony submitted in a November 15, 2022, and again during a colloquy with Senator Alex Padilla at a hearing of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Inspector General Cuffari maintained OIG launched a ‘system-wide audit’ of care in ICE detention facilities. Specifically, the written statement of Dr. Cuffari states at page 3:

“Our inspection did not review the gynecological procedure approval process for detainees at ICDC. Rather, we launched a separate system-wide audit, across all DHS detention facilities, to ascertain the rigor of the approval process for invasive surgical procedures, as well as the propriety of previously approved invasive medical procedures, in light of medical community standards.3” https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/imo/media/doc/Cuffari%20Testimony.pdf

Inspector General Cuffari asserted during his exchange with Senator Padilla on November 15, 2022, that this “system-wide audit” was ongoing, more than two years after the September 14, 2020, Irwin County Detention Center whistleblower report.

Please provide:
(1) a copy of the Opening Memo or other, similar document describing the referral source, purpose, scope, and methodology of this “system-wide audit” of DHS facilities;
(2) any Report of Investigation this system-wide audit has produced, or Memoranda of Activity it may have generated.
(3) any Contract DHS-OIG entered into or relied upon with outside contractors to assist in or complete this “system-wide audit”.
(4) any communications between Inspector General Cuffari or his designee and Congress regarding the status of this “system-wide audit”.

We seek expedited processing of this request. Allegations of a pattern of unnecessary, nonconsensual, invasive, and potentially sterilizing gynecological procedures at the Irwin County Detention Center were substantiated by an 18-month, bipartisan investigation of the Senate PSI. These allegations and others relating to the ongoing, acute, deadly harms of DHS detention facilities have been the subject of widespread and exceptional media coverage. We therefore seek expedited processing under 6 CFR 5.5(e) and attest to the accuracy of the statements above under penalty of perjury pursuant to 28 USC 1746 in support of our expedited processing request.

These are vital records to understand what, if anything, Inspector General Cuffari’s “system-wide audit” concluded about care and consent for humans locked inside DHS detention facilities. The President sought hundreds of millions of dollars in supplemental detention funding from Congress without bothering to publish, much less consider, the results of this system-wide audit, in an apparent pre-determination of its outcome. Our transparency project and others we advocate alongside to push back against and contextualize the pending emergency supplemental funding request by the Biden Administration has a right to know the status and conclusions of the system-wide audit the Inspector General conducted. Timely resolution of this request is essential to ensuring we receive records in a period when they can be used to influence current policy, including the budget supplement. Untimely resolution restricts our ability to speak and advocate, violating our First Amendment guarantees of the freedom to speak and petition on matters of public concern. Why is this so? Because without transparent, timely access to records of the Inspector General’s system-wide audit, only the government officials asking Congress and the American people for more money possess the potentially derogatory information that might frustrate or prevent their efforts to get it. Only the people currently in possession of government records—in this case, the system-wide audit—that demonstrate DHS is inflicting daily harm and preventable death upon adults and children in detention will have real-time access to the government records the public needs to understand and accept these harms are happening.

By delaying your response to this request, you will be buying time for the system to re-formulate and strengthen itself without meaningful, evidence-based public input. That is not the democracy Congress or the Supreme Court presume to exist when interpreting the Freedom of Information Act. That is governance by secrecy under a presumption of opacity.

Please grant expedited processing to this request and release these materials as soon as practicable.

Thank you,
Andrew Free
#DetentionKills Transparency Initiative

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

Good afternoon!

Thank you for granting this request expedited processing. In an effort to help target your search and use resources as efficiently as possible so that the records we seek are released as soon as they can be, we write to narrow part 4 of our request.

As currently framed, part 4 of the request seeks:

“4) any communications between Inspector General Cuffari or his designee and Congress regarding the status of this ‘system-wide audit’”.

We would agree to narrow that request as follows:
1. Please search only for emails and written letter or memo communications. We do not seek voicemails, texts, faxes, or anything else.

2. For responsive emails, please search for and provide in excel format only the following metadata for responsive emails: sender (from), recipient(s) (to, cc, bcc), subject, date sent, attachment file names, and any read-receipt info.

Please confirm receipt and advise as to your position?

Thank you,

Andrew Free

Good afternoon!

Thank you for granting this request expedited processing. In an effort to help target your search and use resources as efficiently as possible so that the records we seek are released as soon as they can be, we write to narrow part 4 of our request.

As currently framed, part 4 of the request seeks:

“4) any communications between Inspector General Cuffari or his designee and Congress regarding the status of this ‘system-wide audit’”.

We would agree to narrow that request as follows:
1. Please search only for emails and written letter or memo communications. We do not seek voicemails, texts, faxes, or anything else.

2. For responsive emails, please search for and provide in excel format only the following metadata for responsive emails: sender (from), recipient(s) (to, cc, bcc), subject, date sent, attachment file names, and any read-receipt info.

Please confirm receipt and advise as to your position?

Thank you,

Andrew Free

Good afternoon,

Can you please provide an estimated response date for this narrowed request?

Many thanks,

Andrew Free