Ideological Screening at the Border
Documents released in our FOIA lawsuit for records on the "extreme vetting" program
This Reading Room contains all of the documents produced to date in Knight Institute v. DHS, a FOIA lawsuit the Knight Institute filed on October 4, 2017, seeking records on how the Trump administration is implementing the president’s call for an “extreme vetting program."
Our FOIA lawsuit sought records from the agencies charged with developing the program: the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of State (DOS). We requested documents concerning the program and the government’s asserted power to exclude individuals on the basis of their speech, beliefs, or associations.
In response, the agencies released over 300 documents, many heavily redacted, and hardly any referencing the extreme vetting program itself.
How to use this Reading Room: The collection below can be searched by keyword, or filtered using the criteria in the left-hand column. In addition, any search can be filtered for “Key Documents,” which are the documents that Knight Institute staff have flagged as the most significant disclosed.
Showing 111–120 of 341
-
Email with Attachment: ICE Paper: National Security Immigration Removal Grounds & Special Removal Processes
Paper summarizing grounds and processes for removal in cases that raise national security concerns. It briefly references, but does not discuss in detail, the endorse-or-espouse provision, and includes a short discussion of (rebuffed) First Amendment challenges to the material support provision.
4/30/2018
-
Email with Attachment: ICE ERO Summary: [redacted] Executive Summary
Email circulating a summary describing the Department of State's request that ICE delay deportation of Leopold Munyakazi, an individual accused of crimes arising out of the Rwandan genocide.
3/7/2018
-
Email with Attachment: ICE ERO Summary: ES New Orleans
Email chain circulating a summary describing the death of a detainee in ICE custody. The detainee specifically died of cardiac arrest.
3/7/2018
-
USCIS Training Module re: Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations (RAIO) Directorate
Training module describing how RAIO officers should approach immigration cases that raise national security concerns––including, but not limited to, Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds––in the context of the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CARRP). There are brief references to, but no substantive discussion of, the endorse-or-espouse provision. While the module includes discussion of Internet resources for research in national security cases, it does not mention social media. Attached documents summarize Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds provisions and exemptions.
6/29/2018
-
Email with Attachment: ICE ERO Summary: ES MIA [redacted] Media Interest
Email chain circulating a summary describing the arrest of an undocumented immigrant involved in an auto accident.
3/7/2018
-
Email with Attachment: ICE ERO Summary: ES ERO ATL
Email discussing and circulating a summary of the investigation into a visa overstay wanted in Germany for parental child abduction.
3/7/2018
-
USCIS Report re: Secretary's Application of the Discretionary Authority Contained in Section 212(d)(3)(B)(i) of the INA
Congressional report providing aggregate statistics on Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds exemptions granted.
6/29/2018
-
Emails between ICE officials re: Arrest of a Foreign Fugitive
Email chain discussing the proposed arrest of a visa overstay wanted in Germany for parental child abduction.
3/7/2018
-
Emails between ICE officials re: Arrest of a Foreign Fugitive
Email chain discussing the proposed arrest of a visa overstay wanted in Germany for parental child abduction.
3/7/2018
-
Email with Attachment: ICE ERO Summary: Detainee Death Notification Juan Garcia-Hernandez
Email circulating a summary describing the cardiac arrest and subsequent death of a detainee in ICE custody.
3/7/2018