FOIA re CBP program targeting people leaving U.S. voluntarily

LOS ANGELES -- Today, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) demanded that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shed light on its secretive strategy of questioning, fingerprinting, and processing undocumented immigrants voluntarily leaving the United States and returning to Mexico. NILC filed a Freedom of Information Act request to receive information about this little-known program, which is managed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Among other things, NILC seeks basic information about the program, including why it was initiated, when it began, and what, if any, immigration consequences individuals stopped as they leave the U.S. on their own initiative may face.

“Although we’ve heard about the existence of such a program through stories that appear occasionally in the media and migrant’s own accounts, we’ve been unable to determine its scope, or size, or other details about it,” said Karen Tumlin, NILC managing attorney and co-author of the FOIA request. “The federal government can and should be transparent about why it is wasting precious federal dollars targeting people who are already on their way out of the country.”

According to accounts from human rights observers in Mexico, this secretive program may result in the issuance of removal orders to immigrants who are already in the process of leaving the U.S. Those who receive such orders may face major legal obstacles to reentering the U.S. in the future.

The FOIA request asks that all materials pertaining to this secretive program be released to the National Immigration Law Center, which will review them to determine whether immigrants’ due process and other rights are being respected under the program.

“We have serious concerns that the immigrants caught by CBP’s program may not be aware of the legal options they have available,” said Ghazal Tajmiri, co-author of the FOIA request, former law fellow at the National Immigration Law Center and current associate at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. “Under current immigration law, those who are deported face huge barriers to lawfully returning to the United States. This makes it of paramount importance that immigrants’ rights are not shortchanged during any form of removal proceedings.”

Advocates on both sides of the border have expressed grave concerns about this new secretive enforcement program. Mexican advocates also have requested information about the CBP initiative through their own governmental channels. They have not yet received responses to the vast majority of their requests.

“For the past year, we’ve received reports from men and women who were surprised to have CBP stop them at the border, while they were on their way back to Mexico,” said Blanca Navarrete García of the Center for Migrant Human Rights in Ciudad Juárez. “Many of these individuals were integral members of their communities here and in the United States. They may now face major obstacles in returning to their children or loved ones in the place that many of them called home.”

The FOIA request is available at http://www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/removpsds/deport-at-departure-FOIA-2011-03-02.pdf.

More information about removal/deportation procedures and defenses is available at http://www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/removpsds/index.htm.

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