USCIS Guidance on CFI's, Martins v. DHS, and CBP 93

Evan Benz filed this request with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the United States of America.
Submitted Feb. 11, 2020
Est. Completion None
Status
Fix Required

Communications

From: Evan Benz

Subject: Freedom of Information Act Request: USCIS Guidance on CFI's, Martins v. DHS, and CBP 93

Portal


To Whom It May Concern:

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

1. Any guidance memoranda, training materials, or other policy guidance to officers/employees/staff/contractors of the USCIS FOIA/PA program (to include, employees of the National Records Center) regarding the disclosure/redaction of records pertaining to credible fear interviews/CFI. Please include any guidance documents responsive to the following search terms: “credible fear interview,” “CFI,” "I-870," "Record of Determination," and "Credible Fear Worksheet."

2. Any guidance memoranda, training materials, or other policy guidance to officers/employees/staff/contractors of the USCIS FOIA/PA program (to include, employees of the National Records Center) regarding compliance with the court orders in Martins v. USCIS, 962 F. Supp. 2d 1106 (E.D. Cal. 2013). These records should include the instructions/training materials mentioned in the letter sent by counsel for USCIS to the U.S. District Court Judge Laurel Beeler, dated Feb. 14, 2014, which certified compliance with the Settlement Agreement in the Martins action (see attached).

3. Any guidance memoranda, training materials or other policy guidance to officers/employees/staff/contractors of the USCIS FOIA/PA program (to include, employees of the National Records Center) regarding the disclosure/redaction of records pertaining to the following search terms: “Unaccompanied Alien Child Screening Addendum,” “CBP Form 93,” and/or “suggested trafficking questions.”

Please feel free to release responsive records in segments, if that would aid in or accelerate the processing of this request.

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,

Evan Benz

From: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Subject: Form submission from: DHS FOIA / Privacy Act Request Submission Form

Email

Submitted on Thursday, February 13, 2020 - 00:19
Submitted by user: Anonymous
Submitted values are:

Select the DHS component you wish to submit your request to: : United States
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
Title:
First Name: Evan
Middle Initial:
Last Name: Benz
Suffix:
Email Address: requests@muckrock.com
Country: United States
Address 1: MuckRock News DEPT MR 87828
Address 2: 411A Highland Ave
City: Somerville
State: Massachusetts
Zip Code: 02144
Telephone Number: 6172991832
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:

1. Any guidance memoranda, training materials, or other policy guidance to
officers/employees/staff/contractors of the USCIS FOIA/PA program (to
include, employees of the National Records Center) regarding the
disclosure/redaction of records pertaining to credible fear interviews/CFI.
Please include any guidance documents responsive to the following search
terms: “credible fear interview,” “CFI,” "I-870," "Record of
Determination," and "Credible Fear Worksheet."

2. Any guidance memoranda, training materials, or other policy guidance to
officers/employees/staff/contractors of the USCIS FOIA/PA program (to
include, employees of the National Records Center) regarding compliance with
the court orders in Martins v. USCIS, 962 F. Supp. 2d 1106 (E.D. Cal. 2013).
These records should include the instructions/training materials mentioned in
the letter sent by counsel for USCIS to the U.S. District Court Judge Laurel
Beeler, dated Feb. 14, 2014, which certified compliance with the Settlement
Agreement in the Martins action (see attached).

3. Any guidance memoranda, training materials or other policy guidance to
officers/employees/staff/contractors of the USCIS FOIA/PA program (to
include, employees of the National Records Center) regarding the
disclosure/redaction of records pertaining to the following search terms:
“Unaccompanied Alien Child Screening Addendum,” “CBP Form 93,” and/or
“suggested trafficking questions.”

Please feel free to release responsive records in segments, if that would aid
in or accelerate the processing of this request.

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,

Evan Benz

Attachments:

https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound_composer_attachments/febenz/80764/13120545b.pdf
Upload documents directly:
https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/
I am willing to pay fees for this request up to the amount of: $: 25
Select from the list below: An individual seeking information for personal
use and not for commercial use.
I request a waiver of all fees for this request.:
Please provide an explanation for your request for a fee waiver:
Please select and describe in detail if you believe your request warrants
expeditious handling:
Please provide information to support your selection:

From: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Subject: None

Mail (Postmarked March 1, 2020)

A letter stating that a certificate of identity, proof of death, or other privacy-related fix is required in order to continue processing the request.

From: Evan Benz

Subject: RE: Freedom of Information Act Request: USCIS Guidance on CFI's, Martins v. DHS, and CBP 93

Fax

Good morning:

I'm not sure why or how your office got the impression that I am requesting records about myself. My request -- Control No. UNP2020000349 -- has to do with general policy/guidance documents that the FOIA office uses in handling certain FOIA requests. In the electronic confirmation of my request, it is quite clearly stated: "Are you requesting records on yourself? No". Accordingly, I will not be providing any ID, as it is not required for this type of request. Please continue processing my request as expeditiously as possible.

Thank you,

Evan

From: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Subject: None

Mail (Postmarked March 19, 2020)

A fix is required to perfect the request.

From: Evan Benz

Subject: RE: Freedom of Information Act Request: USCIS Guidance on CFI's, Martins v. DHS, and CBP 93

Fax

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on February 12, 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: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Subject: FOIA Request UNP2020000394

Email

I am following up on a FOIA request received by this office on February 13, 2020 regarding USCIS FOIA/PA guidance and training materials on credible fear interviews, Martins v. USCIS, and Unaccompanied Alien Child Screening search terms.

You specifically requested:

1. Any guidance memoranda, training materials, or other policy guidance to officers/employees/staff/contractors of the USCIS FOIA/PA program (to include, employees of the National Records Center) regarding the disclosure/redaction of records pertaining to credible fear interviews/CFI. Please include any guidance documents responsive to the following search terms: "credible fear interview," "CFI," "1-870," "Record of Determination," and "Credible Fear Worksheet."

2. Any guidance memoranda, training materials, or other policy guidance to officers/employees/staff/contractors of the USCIS FOIA/PA program (to include, employees of the National Records Center) regarding compliance with the court orders in Martins v. USCIS, 962 F. Supp. 2d 1106 (E.D. Cal. 2013). These records should include the instructions/training materials mentioned in the letter sent by counsel for USCIS to the U.S. District Court Judge Laurel Beeler, dated Feb. 14, 2014, which certified compliance with the Settlement Agreement in the Martins action; and

3. Any guidance memoranda, training materials or other policy guidance to officers/employees/staff/contractors of the USCIS FOIA/PA program (to include, employees of the National Records Center) regarding the disclosure/redaction of records pertaining to the following search terms: "Unaccompanied Alien Child Screening Addendum," "CBP Form 93," and/or "suggested trafficking questions."

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