FOIA
Council Submits FOIA Request Seeking Information on Immigration Judge Training
In February 2025, the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) began firing over 100 immigration judges without reason. These judges had completed EOIR’s training program before investiture, and many of them had years of experience adjudicating complex immigration cases. On August 28, however, EOIR submitted a final rule that… Read More
Council and Just Futures Law File FOIA Request Seeking Information on USCIS’ Implementation of “Anti-Americanism” in Adjudicating Benefit Applications
Following the issuance of two executive orders in the early days of the second Trump administration, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on April 9, 2025 that it would begin considering “anti-Semitic activity” on social media as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests. Shortly thereafter, USCIS claimed also… Read More
Council Challenges USCIS’s Refusal to Release I-213s and Other Immigration Records
An Alien File (A-File) is a record that holds a noncitizens’ immigration history, including Form I-213 which contains any U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) allegations that a noncitizen is deportable. Obtaining Form I-213 and other immigration records in an A-File is a critical part of immigrants applying for immigration… Read More
Council Seeks Information on How USCIS Is Processing FOIA Requests for Immigration Records
An Alien File (A-File) is a record that holds a noncitizens’ immigration history. It includes copies of forms they may have filed, information about their immigration arrests (if they have had encounters with immigration enforcement), and some immigration court records. This file is crucial to immigrants and their legal… Read More
USCIS Will Resume Posting Administrative Appeals Office Decisions on its Website after Lawsuit from the Council and its Partners
The Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) is the branch of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that adjudicates appeals filed by noncitizens when they are wrongly denied certain types of immigration benefits. In most cases, the AAO issues non-precedent decisions as the final opinion in these appeals, which the AAO used to post on the USCIS webpage dedicated to these decisions. Practitioners, and… Read More
Council and NYCLU File FOIA Request for ICE to Publish 287(g) Training Materials on its Website
Since its first day in office, the Trump administration has sought to recruit local law enforcement agencies to collude in its scheme of immigration enforcement. Under a January 20, 2025 executive order, the White House encouraged local law enforcement agencies to assist with the federal government’s immigration arrests by… Read More
Seeking Records about Immigration Court Arrests and Dismissals
In the middle of May 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) began to arrest noncitizens at immigration courts throughout the country at their court hearings. Initially, the agency targeted only those whose immigration cases an immigration judge had just dismissed… Read More
The Council Received Data on City-Level Refugee Resettlement From the Department of State
Background Through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, the United States accepts tens of thousands of refugees each year. Before coming to the United States as refugees, individuals undergo a long and arduous process: they must prove they either have been persecuted… Read More
Seeking Records about DHS’s Renewed Mass Influx Declaration and Deputization of State and Local Law Enforcement as Immigration Officers
Council and ACLU-MI file a FOIA request for records about the basis of the DHS Secretary’s renewed mass influx determination and the supervision and training of state and local law enforcement officers acting as immigration officers thanks to this determination. Read More
Investigating ICE’s Changes to Parole Policies and Other Implementation of President Trump’s Day One Immigration Actions
This FOIA request seeks all memoranda, musters, guidance, and other similar records in the implementation of the “Securing Our Borders” Executive Order and “Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion” Presidential Proclamation. Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
