immigration – National Freedom of Information Coalition

Lawsuit against ICE seeks information on asylum seekers

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Civil rights advocates filed a lawsuit in San Francisco on Thursday against the federal government in an attempt to get information about how many detained asylum seekers are denied parole and how such decisions were made.

In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at UC Hastings College of the Law and others want to know why fewer asylum seekers are being offered parole.

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Feds Settle With Immigration Attorneys Over FOIA Backlog

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Immigration attorneys and their clients have settled claims with U.S. Customs and Border Protection over thousands of unanswered Freedom of Information Act requests.

Led by Glendale attorney Meredith Brown, a proposed class of immigration lawyers said that by the end of fiscal year 2013, the agency had a backlog of nearly 38,000 FOIA requests that had been pending for more than the 20 days permitted by the law.

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California law adds transparency to process of deporting inmates

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AB 2792 originally called for public approval before any police department in the state agrees to hand over inmates to federal immigration officials looking to deport immigrants.

The version signed into law Wednesday removes public approval from the process but makes communications between cops and feds public records. It also calls for public forums if and when law enforcement agencies transfer inmates to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Is the Freedom of Information Act One of Our Least Respected Laws?

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When Barack Obama was first inaugurated, he promised that his administration would “usher in an era of open government.” Instead, requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) are increasingly being challenged or ignored by federal agencies.

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Records requests: Would you want information on your child’s death?

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Your teenage son is walking through his Arizona neighborhood, on a sidewalk perhaps 50 feet from the fence that separates us from Mexico. He is visiting his brother at work. Some kids begin throwing rocks across the fence at Mexican border guards. Your son tries to evade the confrontation.

The Mexican border guards respond with gunfire, shooting through the fence to the U.S. side. Your son is killed, shot 10 times in the back and head. Everyone else runs safely away. Witnesses say your son was not involved.

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FOIA Report: Customs Officials held 40 “low priority” pregnant immigrants in one facility

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Despite designating pregnant undocumented immigrants as “low-priority” targets for incarceration, officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) imprisoned 40 pregnant women at a detention facility in Texas while claiming not to keep “specific records” on detainees’ pregnancy status, Fusion reported on Tuesday.

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