Records on Facilitation of Return Police 2018 to Present
Submitted | July 13, 2020 |
Due | Aug. 10, 2020 |
Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Matthew Hoppock
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Recently the agency appears to have made extensive changes to the "Return Policy" first announced in Supreme Court's decision in Nken v. Holder. For example, its "Frequently Asked Questions" for this topic (https://www.ice.gov/faq/
facilitating-return) was taken offline in March, 2017 and has since been returned with numerous edits and changes. One of these answers appears to shift responsibility for facilitation of return from the Enforcement and Removal Operations
generally to its "Custody Management Division" specifically. We are concerned with these changes, which have neither been formally announced nor subjected to notice and comment. They appear to indicate both a reduced willingness to
comply with the Solicitor General's reassurances following the Nken decision on the facilitation of return and to indicate that ICE intends to place returned individuals into ICE custody.
Accordingly, I request the following under the Freedom of Information Act:
1. Statistics on facilitation of return requests (also called FoRR Inquiries) from 1/1/09 to present including the following:
a. Number of requests received for facilitation of return per year for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
b. Number of requests granted for facilitation of return per year for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
c. Number of requests denied for facilitation of return per year for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
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,
Matthew Hoppock
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,
Matthew Hoppock
From: Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Submitted on Monday, July 13, 2020 - 23:05
Submitted by user: Anonymous
Submitted values are:
Select the DHS component you wish to submit your request to: : U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Title:
First Name: Matthew
Middle Initial:
Last Name: Hoppock
Suffix:
Email Address: requests@muckrock.com
Country: United States
Address 1: MuckRock News DEPT MR 98146
Address 2: 411A Highland Ave
City: Somerville
State: Massachusetts
Zip Code: 02144
Telephone Number: 617-299-1832
Fax Number:
Are you requesting records on yourself? No
If yes, you must check the perjury statement:
By initialing here you are providing your electronic signature.:
Please describe the records you are seeking as clearly and precisely as
possible:
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following
records:
Recently the agency appears to have made extensive changes to the "Return
Policy" first announced in Supreme Court's decision in Nken v. Holder. For
example, its "Frequently Asked Questions" for this topic
(https://www.ice.gov/faq/
facilitating-return) was taken offline in March, 2017 and has since been
returned with numerous edits and changes. One of these answers appears to
shift responsibility for facilitation of return from the Enforcement and
Removal Operations
generally to its "Custody Management Division" specifically. We are concerned
with these changes, which have neither been formally announced nor subjected
to notice and comment. They appear to indicate both a reduced willingness to
comply with the Solicitor General's reassurances following the Nken decision
on the facilitation of return and to indicate that ICE intends to place
returned individuals into ICE custody.
Accordingly, I request the following under the Freedom of Information Act:
1. Statistics on facilitation of return requests (also called FoRR Inquiries)
from 1/1/09 to present including the following:
a. Number of requests received for facilitation of return per year for 2009,
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
b. Number of requests granted for facilitation of return per year for 2009,
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
c. Number of requests denied for facilitation of return per year for 2009,
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
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,
Matthew Hoppock
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,
Matthew Hoppock
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From: Immigration and Customs Enforcement
July 14, 2020 Matthew Hoppock MuckRock News MuckRock News DEPT MR 98146 411A Highland Ave Somerville, MA 02144 RE: ICE FOIA Case Number 2020-ICFO-63645 Dear Mr. Hoppock: This acknowledges receipt of your July 13, 2020, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for records pertaining to changes to the agency's "Return Policy" (see request for details). Your request was received in this office on July 13, 2020. 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 2020-ICFO-63645. 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 2020-ICFO-63645 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, Fernando Pineiro, 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: 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 July 13, 2020. 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: Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Good afternoon,
Regarding 2020-ICFO-63645, we have queried the appropriate component of DHS for responsive records. If any responsive records are located, they will be reviewed for determination of releasability. We will process your request as expeditiously as possible. Upon completion of the processing, all documents that can be released will be made available to you as soon as possible. We sincerely apologize for the delay you are experiencing and appreciate your continued patience.
Sincerely,
ICE FOIA
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~WRD0000