Investigating Immigration
NICAR 2018
Maria Zamudio, Sarah Macaraeg, Pam Dempsey,
and Reade Levinson
Outline
Immigration pipeline from a data perspective
Cracking data on private prisons
Migrant labor in agribusiness
Guidelines for reporting
What has changed under the Trump administration?
Outline
Immigration pipeline from a data perspective
Cracking data on private prisons
Migrant labor in agribusiness
Guidelines for reporting
What has changed under the Trump administration?
Immigration Pipeline from a data perspective
Immigration Pipeline from a data perspective
U.S. State Department, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Dept. of Labor
Immigration Pipeline from a data perspective
U.S. State Department, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Dept. of Labor
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP)
Immigration Pipeline from a data perspective
U.S. State Department, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Dept. of Labor
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Immigration Pipeline from a data perspective
U.S. State Department, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Dept. of Labor
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)
Immigration Pipeline from a data perspective
U.S. State Department, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Dept. of Labor
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)
Department of Homeland Security
Repatriation and deportation data, disciplinary cases, private firm contracts
Department of Justice
All of these agencies will not release the names of immigrants facing deportation. You can get access to a case if you can get the immigrant to sign a privacy waiver form.
You can get access to a case file against an immigrant from ICE if you can get the immigrant to sign a privacy waiver form.
It’s pretty easy but it takes a really long time to get the file. One time it took me over one year.
Requests for information about a person other than the requester require proper authorization allowing release of the information...the FOIA Service Center recommends that you include in your request an authorization to release information from the person who is the subject of the request, or an explanation about how the public interest outweighs the privacy interest of the subject of the record. The FOIA Service Center recommends having the person who is the subject of the request complete and sign Form DOJ-361 (Certification of Identity) for this purpose. If you are the attorney of record, you may wish to provide evidence of that fact, such as a valid entry of appearance, Form EOIR-27 or Form EOIR-28.
1-800-898-7180 (toll-free)*
Track immigration court cases:
Data and documents from other agencies
Recruiter disclosure data
Approved H2A contracts including employer info and number of workers
Wage and Hour Compliance Action Data
Not everyone facing deportation entered the country illegally.
Elizabeth Keathley moved to Illinois from her native Philippines in 2003 to live with her husband. When she tried to get a driver’s license. She didn’t realized she registered to vote after she agreed to be an organ donor. As a legal resident, she can’t vote. That mistake almost got her deported.
National Voter Registration Act, known as the motor voter law, people can register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license or ID card, and state employees can’t ask for proof of citizenship. The law was designed to boost voter participation by making it easier for people to register to vote has had an unintended consequence for some legal residents.
Miguel Perez Jr. fought in Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. When he returned he struggled with PTSD. The VA hospital didn’t help him and he ended up becoming addicted to alcohol and cocaine. He got arrested with a friend who sold drugs and plead guilty to a felony charge. He served seven years in state prison and before he was released for good behavior he was transferred to a detention center.
�The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied his request to stop his deportation order. This was Perez’s last option. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) introduced a private bill to help Perez stay in the country.
Detention Centers
The FOIA library has a lot of reports and contracts. Take a look there before filing a request.
Be creative with your FOIA work
Wendy Palacios agreed to testify against the predatory smuggler who brought her into the country illegally in 2014 then tried to rape her. In exchange, she’d get a pathway to citizenship —a so-called U-visa for crime victims who cooperate in criminal investigations. But U.S. Border Patrol refused to sign the form she needed for the visa.
Case law: NY Times Co (Boston Globe) v. U.S. DHS
In 2011, the Boston Globe filed a FOIA requesting the names, crimes, and last-known states of residence of convicted criminals released in the United States by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and the reasons they were not deported.
The paper fought the denials and two years later the court ordered the agency to release the data. The court said “must weigh that privacy interest against the public interest in disclosure. There is "only one relevant public interest, that of `open[ing] agency action to the light of public scrutiny.'”
** You can use this argument in FOIAs where you request names and some documents.
Outline
Immigration pipeline from a data perspective
Cracking data on private prisons
Migrant labor in agribusiness
Guidelines for reporting
What has changed under the Trump administration?
SARAH
MACARAEG
@SERAMAK
#NICAR18
IMMIGRANT DETENTION
3. FINDINGS
4. CONNECTING DOTS
73%
Of ICE detention & removal operations were privately contracted as of 2016
(Detention Watch Network)
PRIVATE PRISON FOIAS
WHO
TO
FOIA
WHAT
UNDERSTANDING
THE LANDSCAPE
OPERATORS COULD HAVE:
THERE’S NO SUBSTITUTE FOR TAKING THE TIME TO FIGURE IT OUT
WHAT I FOUND
-$$$ -WAIVER
-RUBBERSTAMP
-DEPORTEE DATA
FINDINGS ON HAND
FOIA EVERYTHING
READ EVERYTHING
VERIFY EVERYTHING
CONNECTING DOTS
Interpretation
Identification
Hate groups
Sources in removal proceedings
SARAH MACARAEG
sarah.macaraeg@gmail.com
@seramak
Outline
Immigration pipeline from a data perspective
Cracking data on private prisons
Migrant labor in agribusiness
Guidelines for reporting
What has changed under the Trump administration?
Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
pamelagdempsey@investigatemidwest.org
Migrant labor in agribusiness
Migrant labor in agribusiness
Guide to covering migrant labor
Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
pamelagdempsey@investigatemidwest.org
Outline
Immigration pipeline from a data perspective
Cracking data on private prisons
Migrant labor in agribusiness
Guidelines for reporting
What has changed under the Trump administration?
changes under Trump
Reade Levinson
@readelev
ICE FOIA/PA Headquarters Office
+1 (866) 633-1182
“You have reached the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Freedom of Information Act Office. This is an unmonitored phone line ... in the event that you need assistant with a Freedom of Information Act request, please submit an email to ICE-FOIA@DHS.gov.”
Obama-era (2nd term) policies
Priority cases
Targeted arrests
Unaccompanied minors
Alternatives to detention
No. of visas
Refugee resettlement
Travel ban
Interior arrests
Drop in border crossings
287(g)
Immigration judges
Fed. criminal prosecutions
January 20, 2017
NICAR 2018
Maria Zamudio
zamudio2@gmail.com
Reade Levinson
reade.levinson@tr.com
Pam Dempsey
pamelagdempsey@investigatemidwest.org
Sarah Macaraeg
sarah.macaraeg@gmail.com