SEACATS: Seized property DHS

Freddy Martinez filed this request with the Department of Homeland Security of the United States of America.
Submitted March 10, 2017
Status
Rejected

Communications

From: Freddy Martinez

Subject: Freedom of Information Request: SEACATS: Seized property DHS

Email

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

According to a report by the Intercept (https://theintercept.com/document/2017/03/02/ice-tecs-modernization-operational-requirements/), DHS operates a program named SEACATS: the "Seized Assets and Case Tracking System" for tracking of assets seized by the Department of Homeland Security. This is part of ICE's TECS Modernization Program Operational Requirement Document, dated Feb 28, 2014.

Therefore, I request for all the years between 2014 and 2016, I request a record of every item seized by DHS and entered in SEACATS, the monetary amount (if known) and the date and location of the seizure (if known)

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. According to DHS documents, SEACATS may keep this data in an Oracle Relational Database, in which case you can just return me the database table for this time frame.

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,

Lucy Parsons Labs

From: CBPFOIA@cbp.dhs.gov

Subject: FOIA Request CBP-2017-042462 Submitted

Email

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://foiaonline.regulations.gov:443/foia/action/public/view/request?objectId=090004d28121a0ba)
* Tracking Number: CBP-2017-042462
* Requester Name: Lucy Parsons Labs
* Date Submitted: 03/21/2017
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description: "record of every item seized by DHS and entered in SEACATS, the monetary amount (if known) and the date and location of the seizure (if known)" between 2014-2016

From: CBPFOIA@cbp.dhs.gov

Subject: Final Disposition, Request CBP-2017-042462

Email

Pursuant to 6 C.F.R. Part 5 § 5.3(b) of the DHS FOIA regulations, you must describe the records you are seeking with as much information as possible to ensure that our search of appropriate systems of records can find them with a reasonable amount of effort. Your FOIA request has been closed as insufficient for one or more of the following reasons:
·      Your FOIA request is a third party request and did not include authorization that information on this individual can be released to you.  All third party FOIA requests must include a signed G-28 or G-639 form, or a signed statement from the individual verifying that his/her information may be released to you.
·       Did not include a date of birth.
·       Did not include a full name (and aliases as appropriate) of the individual in which you are seeking records
·       Did not include a death certificate (or other proof that the subject is deceased)
· Did not include a clear and detailed description of the records being requested. Please be advised that the FOIA does not require federal agencies to answer inquiries or create records in response to a FOIA request, but rather is limited to requiring agencies to provide access to reasonably described, nonexempt records.   As you have failed to reasonably describe the records you are seeking, your request is not a perfected request, and we are unable to initiate a search for responsive records.
Please resubmit your FOIA request, along with the required information, by logging into your existing FOIAonline account or go to https://foiaonline.regulations.gov to create an account.

From: Freddy Martinez

Subject: RE: Freedom of Information Request: SEACATS: Seized property DHS

Email

Please re-open this request, for the following reasons:
A) "Please resubmit your FOIA request, along with the required information, by logging into your existing FOIAonline account or go to https://foiaonline.regulations.gov "

In response to A) the Department of Homeland Security is not on this webpage. I am including supporting documentation.

B) "Your FOIA request is a third party request and did not include authorization that information on this individual can be released to you. All third party FOIA requests must include a signed G-28 or G-639 form, or a signed statement from the individual verifying that his/her information may be released to you."
In response to B), no it is not a third party request. The request is being made through MuckRock, an online platform that sends requests to agencies and on behalf of my user account. For your reference, DHS has previously responded to requests on this platform before, you can use tracking #2017-HQFO-00671 for reference.

C) Did not include a date of birth.
In response to C), this request is being made by Lucy Parsons Labs, a registered non-profit in Illinois and a 501(c)3 non-profit as designated by the IRS.

We do not have a date of birth, as we are not a person but a not for profit corporation.

D) "Did not include a full name (and aliases as appropriate) of the individual in which you are seeking records"

We are not an individual for the reasons stated in previously in response to C).

E) Did not include a death certificate (or other proof that the subject is deceased)

We are not deceased. Nor are we seeking records on any deceased person.

We ill respond to F) in multiple parts

"Did not include a clear and detailed description of the records being requested."

We described the name of the program "SEACATS: the "Seized Assets and Case Tracking System"", as well as its purpose "for tracking of assets seized by the Department of Homeland Security." We also describe the document that outlines the program "ICE's TECS Modernization Program Operational Requirement Document, dated Feb 28, 2014." For more background, TECS is "TECS, formerly known as the Treasury Enforcement Communications System, is used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to manage the flow of people through border ports of entry and for immigration enforcement case management."

"Please be advised that the FOIA does not require federal agencies to answer inquiries or create records in response to a FOIA request"

We do not see the creation of records. We described an *existing* database that contains these records *electronically* and are seeking an *export* of those records in electronic format.

"As you have failed to reasonably describe the records you are seeking, your request is not a perfected request, and we are unable to initiate a search for responsive records."

This is also not true for the reasons stated above.

Please feel free to contact us further about this request,

The Lucy Parsons Labs,
An Chicago-based non-profit in the State of IL
(not an individual, who are also not deceased, since we were not born, so can be dead)

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