FOIA Request for Charlotte IJ Remands
| Submitted | Feb. 17, 2023 |
| Due | March 20, 2023 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: F. Evan Benz
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
The decisions issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals between October 20, 2020, and the date of processing of this request, arising from cases decided by the following IJs:
1. Theresa Holmes-Simmons
2. Scott D. Criss
3. Stephanie Gorman
4. Rodger C. Harris
5. Amy Lee
6. Maria Lopez-Enriquez
7. Jeffrey R. Nance
8. George W. Riggs
To be clear, these are cases that were classified at the BIA as either administratively closed, background check remand, and/or remand. I REQUEST THAT THE DECISIONS BE DELIVERED IN SEPARATE FOLDERS ACCORDING TO THE IJ THAT ISSUED THE UNDERLYING DECISION (that is, one folder with all of the remands from each IJ, please).
The purpose of this request is to help gather information, to provide to the public, about why the Charlotte Immigration Court has a much higher-than-average asylum denial rate compared to other non-detained immigration courts in the Fourth Circuit and what the reasoning has been when the BIA has overturned some of those denials. See TRAC, “Asylum Decisions Vary Widely Across Judges and Courts - Latest Results,” (Jan. 13, 2020), available at https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/590/.
The requested records will be made available to the general public via a FOIA records clearinghouse (www.muckrock.com), and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. I am an attorney at a non-profit organization, CAIR Coalition (https://www.caircoalition.org/staff-directory). Thus, I request that fees be waived. However, 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 response be provided 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,
F. Evan Benz, Esq.
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,
F. Evan Benz
From: Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review
Dear Requester:
Thank you for contacting the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Please read this email in its entirety for important information about upcoming improvements to the EOIR Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act (PA) request process.
Please be advised that FOIA request are not considered received unless it is submitted as stated on EOIR’s website, therefore you must submit either using the Public Access Link, or Regular Mail.
As of December 1, 2022, EOIR no longer accepts FOIA or PA requests by email. EOIR strongly encourages individuals to submit FOIA and PA requests through EOIR's Public Access Link (PAL)<https://foia.eoir.justice.gov/app/Home.aspx>. We will continue to monitor this inbox for correspondence other than initial FOIA requests.
PAL offers several benefits for individuals submitting a FOIA or PA request to EOIR:
* Nearly instant submission of requests;
* Ability to track status of requests;
* Ability to browse the FOIA Reading Room;
* Payment of required fees online;
* Response to requests immediately upon processing;
* Receive email alerts as soon as requested records are ready; and
* Downloadable records at any time after processing.
To submit your FOIA or PA request, visit PAL<https://foia.eoir.justice.gov/app/Home.aspx> to register for an account.
PAL provides accelerated processing and delivery of EOIR’s response to your FOIA requests, but we understand it may not be right for everyone. If you prefer, you may still send your requests via postal mail. The mailing address for the EOIR FOIA Service Center is available at https://foia.eoir.justice.gov/app/Home.aspx.
As a reminder, the Request a ROP<https://www.justice.gov/eoir/ROPrequest> process is available to those requesting a Record of Proceeding (ROP) for a case before an immigration court or the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The Request a ROP process allows an individual who is the subject of a ROP, or someone with a specific legal relationship with that person, to submit a ROP request directly to the applicable immigration court or the BIA, rather than to the FOIA team. Requesters may use the Request a ROP process in lieu of or in addition to the FOIA request process. However, please note that requesting a ROP through both processes may result in significantly delayed delivery. For more information, see the ROP Request Instructions<https://www.justice.gov/eoir/ROPrequest>.
Please be advised that if you have multiple accounts, which could be connected to PAL requests or e-mail/mail requests, we will no longer merge the accounts together. Therefore, it is to your advantage to use your currently existing PAL account (or create a PAL account if you do not have one) and only submit requests under that PAL account moving forward.
We look forward to offering you faster processing times with PAL, although due to the large number of requests we receive, there may still be a slight delay in processing your request. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.
We will continue to monitor this email for communications regarding existing requests.
Sincerely,
FOIA Service Center
Office of the General Counsel
Executive Office for Immigration Review
Public Access Link (PAL)<https://foia.eoir.justice.gov/app/Home.aspx>
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~WRD0000
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 Feb. 18, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review
Dear Requester:
Thank you for contacting the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Please read this email in its entirety for important information about upcoming improvements to the EOIR Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act (PA) request process.
Please be advised that FOIA request are not considered received unless it is submitted as stated on EOIR’s website, therefore you must submit either using the Public Access Link, or Regular Mail.
As of December 1, 2022, EOIR no longer accepts FOIA or PA requests by email. EOIR strongly encourages individuals to submit FOIA and PA requests through EOIR's Public Access Link (PAL)<https://foia.eoir.justice.gov/app/Home.aspx>. We will continue to monitor this inbox for correspondence other than initial FOIA requests.
PAL offers several benefits for individuals submitting a FOIA or PA request to EOIR:
* Nearly instant submission of requests;
* Ability to track status of requests;
* Ability to browse the FOIA Reading Room;
* Payment of required fees online;
* Response to requests immediately upon processing;
* Receive email alerts as soon as requested records are ready; and
* Downloadable records at any time after processing.
To submit your FOIA or PA request, visit PAL<https://foia.eoir.justice.gov/app/Home.aspx> to register for an account.
PAL provides accelerated processing and delivery of EOIR’s response to your FOIA requests, but we understand it may not be right for everyone. If you prefer, you may still send your requests via postal mail. The mailing address for the EOIR FOIA Service Center is available at https://foia.eoir.justice.gov/app/Home.aspx.
As a reminder, the Request a ROP<https://www.justice.gov/eoir/ROPrequest> process is available to those requesting a Record of Proceeding (ROP) for a case before an immigration court or the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The Request a ROP process allows an individual who is the subject of a ROP, or someone with a specific legal relationship with that person, to submit a ROP request directly to the applicable immigration court or the BIA, rather than to the FOIA team. Requesters may use the Request a ROP process in lieu of or in addition to the FOIA request process. However, please note that requesting a ROP through both processes may result in significantly delayed delivery. For more information, see the ROP Request Instructions<https://www.justice.gov/eoir/ROPrequest>.
Please be advised that if you have multiple accounts, which could be connected to PAL requests or e-mail/mail requests, we will no longer merge the accounts together. Therefore, it is to your advantage to use your currently existing PAL account (or create a PAL account if you do not have one) and only submit requests under that PAL account moving forward.
We look forward to offering you faster processing times with PAL, although due to the large number of requests we receive, there may still be a slight delay in processing your request. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.
We will continue to monitor this email for communications regarding existing requests.
Sincerely,
FOIA Service Center
Office of the General Counsel
Executive Office for Immigration Review
Public Access Link (PAL)<https://foia.eoir.justice.gov/app/Home.aspx>
-
~WRD0001