The American Immigration Council is a non-profit, non-partisan organization. Legal filings recently revealed that the federal agency that runs immigration courts has just two attorneys responsible for processing complex public records requests. Two lawyers to handle requests for information about a system that decides the fate of hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year.
This revelation should come as no surprise given that, as the Washington Post recently reported, agencies tasked with processing requests for public information have been largely dismantled by the Trump administration despite claims that President Trump is the most transparent president in history. And when the public loses its ability to follow the government’s paper trail, we lose our ability to hold those in power accountable to the people they serve.
Immigration administrative agencies have been particularly impacted by these changes, which often seem bureaucratic but can have far reaching consequences.
Take immigration courts for example. In the same legal filing, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), responsible for overseeing immigration courts, claims that it has resources to only process 200 pages of responsive records per month due to, among other reasons, staff taking the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) buyouts. This has left the EOIR with just two attorneys to process complex FOIA requests. This de-funding of the agency’s FOIA office comes at a time when transparency is needed most, given the immigration courts’ role in pushing noncitizens into removal processes with less due process and less oversight.
Or consider what is happening at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Noncitizens placed in removal proceedings or seeking certain immigration benefits need their immigration records to assess if they have a chance at staying in the country. Unlike in criminal court, noncitizens don’t get that information from the prosecutors; they must request these records under FOIA. FOIA requires the agencies to process these requests within 30 business days, a requirement that is being enforced by a court injunction. Last December, however, a whistleblower reported that USCIS adopted several policies without telling the public, which allowed the agency to reject these requests without having to process and respond to them. The agency has claimed these changes were to improve efficiency; but at the same time, it reported in September 2025 that almost 30 percent of its FOIA positions were vacant and that a hiring freeze was in place until at least October of last year. The result: noncitizens’ requests for records were rejected, delaying their access to information.
DHS also gutted independent oversight offices such as the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman, practically eliminating investigation into DHS abuses and deaths in detention.
This erosion of transparency is occurring at the same time when immigration enforcement is becoming more aggressive. Across the country, it’s now common to see raids and arrests carried out by officers with faces concealed by masks or other gear. This is a clear signal of a more secretive enforcement apparatus and of the overall shift away from transparent, accountable government. When officers cannot easily be identified and agencies release fewer records about their actions, it becomes far more difficult to investigate misconduct or hold the government accountable when abuses take place.
Congress is considering addressing some of these issues. Some of the proposed solutions to end the current shutdown of DHS include that ICE agents not wearing masks, identifying themselves as a matter of course, and adopting the use of body cameras, among others.
These measures would be good first steps, but Congress can and must do more to make the agencies more accountable to the people. Mandating strict reporting requirements as conditions for agency funding and the more direct requirement that funding goes to the offices that provide for transparency amongst the tens of billions of dollars being granted to these agencies also would improve the current lack of transparency.
Government accountability only works when transparency is treated as a core responsibility of government rather than an inconvenience. Properly funding these offices would demonstrate to the American public that transparency is indeed a priority.
