FOIA Trainings 2021 & Meta-FOIA

Andrew Free filed this request with the Department of Homeland Security of the United States of America.

It is a clone of this request.

Tracking #

2022-ICFO-07344

2022-HQFO-00389

Est. Completion None
Status
Awaiting Appeal

Communications

From: Andrew Free

To Whom It May Concern:

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

1. All DHS FOIA policy and training materials referenced on Page 10 of the DHS Chief Privacy Officer's 2018 Chief FOIA Officer Report: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2018%20Chief%20FOIA%20Officer%20Report.pdf

2. All subsequent versions of FOIA policy and training materials provided to DHS FOIA personnel and DHS agency components’ FOIA personnel AFTER 2018 DHS Chief Privacy Officer’s FOIA report and BEFORE December 21, 2021.

3. DHS’s 2021 FOIA logs.

I make this request on behalf of Al Otro Lado’s #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

From: Department of Homeland Security

Dear Andrew Free,
Request Number 2022-HQFO-00389 has been assigned to the request you submitted. In all future correspondence regarding this request please reference request number 2022-HQFO-00389.
Regards,
Department of Homeland Security

From: Department of Homeland Security

Dear Andrew Free,
The status of your HQ FOIA request #2022-HQFO-00389 has been updated to the following status 'Received'. To log into the Department of Homeland Security PAL click on the Application URL below.
https://foiarequest.dhs.gov/
Sincerely,
Department of Homeland Security

From: Department of Homeland Security

Good Afternoon,
Attached is our acknowledgment of your DHS FOIA 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 Privacy Office
Disclosure & FOIA Program
STOP 0655
Department of Homeland Security
245 Murray Drive, SW
Washington, DC 20528-0655
Telephone:  1-866-431-0486 or 202-343-1743
Fax:  202-343-4011
Visit our FOIA website (http://www.dhs.gov/foia)

From: Department of Homeland Security

Good Afternoon Mr. Free,
We wanted to reach out to you for clarification to item 1 of request. The training you reference on page 10 of lists ICE's training for 2018, since our FOIA Offices are decentralized we would need to refer this item 1 to ICE and consequently Item 2 which is clearly linked to Item 1.
This page also talks about trainings the Privacy Office hosted that were carried out by OGIS, DOJ, ASAP and the Graduate School. Are you interested in those ? We needed some clarification as to what it is that you are interested in. We will place these two items on hold until we receive clarification from you on this. 1. All DHS FOIA policy and training materials referenced on Page 10 of the DHS Chief Privacy Officer's 2018 Chief FOIA Officer Report: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2018%20Chief%20FOIA%20Officer%20Report.pdf (https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2018%20Chief%20FOIA%20Officer%20Report.pdf) 2. All subsequent versions of FOIA policy and training materials provided to DHS FOIA personnel and DHS agency components’ FOIA personnel AFTER 2018 DHS Chief Privacy Officer’s FOIA report and BEFORE December 21, 2021.
Regards,
DHS Privacy Office
Disclosure & FOIA Program
STOP 0655
Department of Homeland Security
245 Murray Drive, SW
Washington, DC 20528-0655
Telephone:  1-866-431-0486 or 202-343-1743
Fax:  202-343-4011
Visit our FOIA website (http://www.dhs.gov/foia)

From: Andrew Free

Good morning,

Thanks very much for following up.

If the decentralization of the FOIA offices means there won’t be DHS FOIA records of those trainings and they’ll be with ICE FOIA instead, it makes sense to do an intra-agency referral for the ICE records. We consent to that.

If the other offices’ trainings referenced on page 10 won’t be likely to be stored by ICE FOIA, or if DHS FOIA has them, maybe you can retain and task only that portion of the request? I’d consent to that as well.

Finally, I can file a cloned request with ICE FOIA and spare the referral from you all, allowing you to administratively close this request and remove it from your queue, if you believe DHS FOIA has no responsive records.

Really appreciate your follow up. Please let me know how you’d like to proceed?

Best regards,

Andrew

From: Department of Homeland Security

Dear Andrew Free,
A message has been sent to your account in the Department of Homeland Security PAL. Once logged in; click on the Request Status link in the left panel, locate request #2022-HQFO-00389, and select the message to view it.
Click here to log in https://foiarequest.dhs.gov/.
Regards,
Department of Homeland Security

From: Department of Homeland Security

Good Afternoon,
Attached is our acknowledgment of your DHS FOIA 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 Privacy Office
Disclosure & FOIA Program
STOP 0655
Department of Homeland Security
245 Murray Drive, SW
Washington, DC 20528-0655
Telephone:  1-866-431-0486 or 202-343-1743
Fax:  202-343-4011
Visit our FOIA website (http://www.dhs.gov/foia)

From: Department of Homeland Security

Dear Andrew Free,
The status of your HQ FOIA request #2022-HQFO-00389 has been updated to the following status 'In Process'. To log into the Department of Homeland Security PAL click on the Application URL below.
https://foiarequest.dhs.gov/
Sincerely,
Department of Homeland Security

From: Department of Homeland Security

Dear Andrew Free,
The status of your ICE FOIA request #'2022-ICFO-07344' has been updated to the following status 'Received'. To log into the Department of Homeland Security PAL click on the Application URL below.
https://foiarequest.dhs.gov/
Sincerely,
Department of Homeland Security

From: Department of Homeland Security

Dear Andrew Free,
Your request has been received by the Department of Homeland Security. The request has been assigned tracking # '2022-ICFO-07344', please log into your account and review your submission.
The application address is https://foiarequest.dhs.gov/.
Thank you,
Department of Homeland Security

From: Department of Homeland Security

February 10, 2022 Andrew Free MuckRock News DEPT MR 122446 411A Highland Ave Somerville, Massachusetts 02144-2516 RE:     ICE FOIA Case Number 2022-ICFO-07344 Dear Free: This acknowledges receipt of your January 13, 2022, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for all DHS FOIA policy and training materials referenced on Page 10 of the DHS Chief Privacy Officer's 2018 Chief FOIA Officer Report: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2018%20Chief%20FOIA%20Officer%20Report.pdf, as well as all subsequent versions of FOIA policy and training materials provided to DHS FOIA personnel and DHS agency components’ FOIA personnel AFTER 2018 DHS Chief Privacy Officer’s FOIA report and BEFORE December 21, 2021.  Your request was received in this office on January 13, 2022. PLEASENOTE: Requesters seekingresponsive records from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) areencouraged to create a DHS FOIA Public Access Link (PAL) accountat: . Creating a PALaccount will allow you to directly submit your FOIA request to ICE and trackthe status of your request. In PAL, you can view your prior PAL submissions,sent correspondences, and responsive records. Although PAL is preferred, ICEFOIA will continue to accept FOIA requests via email at (https://foiarequest.dhs.gov/) https://foiarequest.dhs.gov or via regularmail at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Freedom ofInformation Act Office, 500 12 ICE-FOIA@ice.dhs.gov th St. SW, STOP 5009, Washington,DC 20536-5009. 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 2022-ICFO-07344. 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 2022-ICFO-07344 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, Marcus Francis, 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

From: Department of Homeland Security

Good Afternoon,
We wanted to let you know that for item 3 of the request (FOIA Logs) this information is publicly available online. Please access the following link to get access to that information. Please let us know if you have any issues accessing the information. DHS Privacy FOIA Logs | Homeland Security
Regards,
DHS Privacy Office
Disclosure & FOIA Program
STOP 0655
Department of Homeland Security
245 Murray Drive, SW
Washington, DC 20528-0655
Telephone:  1-866-431-0486 or 202-343-1743
Fax:  202-343-4011
Visit our FOIA website (http://www.dhs.gov/foia)

From: Andrew Free

Good morning,

Thank you very much.

Andrew

From: Andrew Free

We hereby appeal the agency's failure to comply with the timing provisions of the Act.

From: Department of Homeland Security

Good morning Mr. Free,

I am in receipt of the appeal you have filed for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request 2022-ICFO-07344. I am currently unable to locate any record of this request. Please provide me a copy of the acknowledgement letter you received for FOIA 2022-ICFO-07344. I have also done an email address check and the only FOIA number associated with the email address provided is 2022-HQFO-00389, and this request is still pending processing. Please forward the requested information directly to me. I appreciate your assistance in this matter. Please note, no appeal may be created until I am able to identify and locate the case number.

Respectfully,

Sharon R. Deshield
Department of Homeland Security, HQ
Office of the Secretary and Executive Management
Litigation and Appeals
Privacy Office
Email: sharon.deshield@hq.dhs.gov<mailto:sharon.deshield@hq.dhs.gov>

"Never look down on someone...unless you are helping them up!" Unknown

From: Andrew Free

Sharon:

Thanks very much for your email.

The email we received is copied and pasted below:

February 10, 2022


Andrew Free

MuckRock News DEPT MR 122446

411A Highland Ave

Somerville, Massachusetts 02144-2516


RE: ICE FOIA Case Number 2022-ICFO-07344

Dear Free:


This acknowledges receipt of your January 13, 2022, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for all DHS FOIA policy and training materials referenced on Page 10 of the DHS Chief Privacy Officer's 2018 Chief FOIA Officer Report: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2018%20Chief%20FOIA%20Officer%20Rep ort.pdf, as well as all subsequent versions of FOIA policy and training materials provided to DHS FOIA personnel and DHS agency components’ FOIA personnel AFTER 2018 DHS Chief Privacy Officer’s FOIA report and BEFORE December 21, 2021. Your request was received in this office on January 13, 2022.

PLEASE NOTE: Requesters seeking responsive records from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are encouraged to create a DHS FOIA Public Access Link (PAL) account at: https://foiarequest.dhs.gov. Creating a PAL account will allow you to directly submit your FOIA request to ICE and track the status of your request. In PAL, you can view your prior PAL submissions, sent correspondences, and responsive records. Although PAL is preferred, ICE FOIA will continue to accept FOIA requests via email at ICE-FOIA@ice.dhs.gov or via regular mail at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Freedom of Information Act Office, 500 12th St. SW, STOP 5009, Washington, DC 20536-5009.


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 2022-ICFO-07344. Please refer to this identifier in any future correspondence. To check the status of an ICE FOIA/PA request, please visit http://www.dhs.gov/foia-status. Please note that to check the status of a request, you must enter the 2022-ICFO-07344 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, Marcus Francis, 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.

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

From: Department of Homeland Security

Good morning,

Thank you for getting back to me. This appeal will need to be forwarded to ICE for processing, this is why I could not access the case. I will forward this appeal request and you should receive an acknowledgement from them.

Respectfully,

Sharon R. Deshield
Department of Homeland Security, HQ
Office of the Secretary and Executive Management
Litigation and Appeals
Privacy Office
Email: sharon.deshield@hq.dhs.gov<mailto:sharon.deshield@hq.dhs.gov>

“Never look down on someone…unless you are helping them up!” Unknown

From: Andrew Free

So the ICE request was actually a DHS referral. Does that change the analysis?

From: Department of Homeland Security

Good afternoon Mr. Free,

Upon review, items 1 and 2 of your original request were referred to ICE and assigned 2022-ICFO-07344 per information from the Headquarters case file 2022-HQFO-00389. What will determine who processes the appeal is for you to provide in detail what you are seeking? Are you appealing the referral of line items 1 and 2 to ICE or are you appealing the information from item 3 not being issued yet? Are you appealing information that you have or have not received on the ICE FOIA 2022-ICFO-07344. Once I have this information it will determine who will process your request.

Respectfully,

Sharon R. Deshield
Department of Homeland Security, HQ
Office of the Secretary and Executive Management
Litigation and Appeals
Privacy Office
Email: sharon.deshield@hq.dhs.gov<mailto:sharon.deshield@hq.dhs.gov>

“Never look down on someone…unless you are helping them up!” Unknown

From: Andrew Free

We appeal the untimely response to this agency referral. We FOIA’d DHS. We reasonably described the records we were seeking. DHS has never responded. Please remand with instructions to timely respond.

Please stop obstructing access to this vital information with make-work, irrelevant questions designed to cut off transparency. You have a duty to construe this request with a presumption of openness.

Thank you,

Andrew Free
#DetentionKills Transparency Initiative
Al Otro Lado

From: Department of Homeland Security

Good Afternoon,

2022-ICFO-07344 is a U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) request and in order to appeal this request please contact ICE directly at https://www.ice.gov/foia. Thank you.

Respectfully,

Kelly J. Davis

Privacy Office, Mail Stop 0655
Department of Homeland Security
2707 Martin Luther King Jr. AVE SE
Washington, DC 20528-0655

'202-343-1743 | '866-431-0486 | 7 202-343-4011
* foia@hq.dhs.gov<mailto:foia@hq.dhs.gov>

This is covered by federal and state law governing electronic communications and may contain confidential and legally privileged information. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, use or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error, please reply immediately to the sender and delete this message. Thank you.
[cid:image001.jpg@01D9AB6A.46474820]

From: Andrew Free

McGehee (DC Cir) says you actually can’t do what you’re doing. With referrals, the original recipient agency still bears a statutory duty.

From: Department of Homeland Security

Good morning,

After carefully reading your appeal request and your reply below, are you appealing in regard to ICE FOIA request 2022-ICFO-07344? If so, I can direct you to the appropriate office. Unfortunately, we do not handle ICE FOIA requests. Please note that ICE is processing your request for item 1 and 2. Additionally, we are still working on your DHS FOIA request 2022-HQFO-00389 for item 3. Are you appealing the information not received for item 3? Or are you appealing to your requests in DHS and ICE?

Respectfully,

Claudia Cisneros

Government Information Specialist

U.S. Department of Homeland Security | Privacy Office

Claudia.Cisneros@hq.dhs.gov

This is covered by federal and state law governing electronic communications and may contain confidential and legally privileged information. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, use or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error, please reply immediately to the sender and delete this message. Thank you

From: Andrew Free

Ms. Cisneros:

I am appealing:

(1) DHS’s failure to make a timely determination on all three requests.
The agency has NEVER made the legally required determination. See CREW v. FEC (DC Cir 2013) for a summary of your unmet obligations in making a determination.

(2) DHS’s January 2022 referral / transfer decision to ICE.
We separately sought the same records from ICE. What we wanted in making this request was insight into what supervision—or lack thereof—the DHS Chief FOIA/PA Officer engages in when it comes to this serially deficient and unlawful component’s conduct. DHS has violated FOIA by failing to ensure ICE responds to this referral in a timely manner.

(3) DHS’s failure to timely provide an estimated date of completion.
The agency has never even attempted to comply with this statutory obligation

(4) DHS’s failure to make responsive records promptly available.
A year and a half response period is unreasonable and violates 5 USC 552(a)(3)(A). See Owen v. ICE (CD Cal).

Please adjudicate this appeal.

Thank you.

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 Privacy OfficeDisclosure & FOIA ProgramSTOP 0655Department of Homeland Security245 Murray Drive, SWWashington, DC 20528-0655Telephone: 1-866-431-0486 or 202-343-1743 Fax: 202-343-4011Visit our FOIA website https://www.dhs.gov/foia
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: Department of Homeland Security

Good Morning,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 Privacy OfficeDisclosure & FOIA ProgramSTOP 0655Department of Homeland Security245 Murray Drive, SWWashington, DC 20528-0655Telephone: 1-866-431-0486 or 202-343-1743 Fax: 202-343-4011Visit our FOIA website https://www.dhs.gov/foia
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: Department of Homeland Security

Good Morning,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,Privacy OfficeDepartment of Homeland Security2707 Martin Luther King Jr. AVE SEMail Stop 0655Washington, DC 20528-065Phone: 202-343-1743 or 866-431-0486 Fax: 202-343-4011 E-mail: foia@hq.dhs.govVisit our FOIA website https://www.dhs.gov/foia
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

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