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 181–190 of 341
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DOS Memo: Imposing Visa Restrictions on Certain Current and Former Rwandan Officials
Memorandum recommending a policy to restrict issuance of visas to current and former Rwandan military officials indicted in 2008 by a Spanish court for war crimes and related offenses.
6/28/2018
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DOS Memo: Additional Background on [redacted]
Memorandum discussing a legislative proposal for a Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds exemption which the State Department lacked statutory authority to grant on its own.
6/28/2018
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DOS Memo: Request for State Views on Proposed Exemption for the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF)
Memorandum discussing the State Department's views on a proposed Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds exemption for the Eritrean Liberation Front.
11/9/2018
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DOS Memo: Request for State Views on Proposed Exemption for Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Eritrean Kunama (DMLEK)
Memorandum discussing the State Department's views on a proposed Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds exemption for the Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Eritrean Kunama.
6/28/2018
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DOS Memo: Request for State Views on Proposed Exemption for the [redacted]
Memorandum discussing the State Department's views on a proposed Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds exemption for an unnamed group.
6/28/2018
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DOS Memo: Request for State Views on Proposed Exemption for the [redacted]
Memorandum discussing the State Department's views on a proposed Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds exemption for an unnamed group.
6/28/2018
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DOS Memo: Request for State Views on Proposed Exemption for the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF)
Memorandum discussing the State Department's views on a proposed Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds exemption for the Tigray People's Liberation Front, an Ethiopian political party.
6/28/2018
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DOS Memo: Request for State Views on Proposed Exemption for the Tigray - TPLF
Memorandum discussing the State Department's views on a proposed Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds exemption for the Tigray People's Liberation Front, an Ethiopian political party.
6/28/2018
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DOS Memo: Request for State Views on Proposed Exemption for the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP)
Memorandum discussing the State Department's views on a proposed Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds exemption for the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party.
6/28/2018
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DOS Memo: Request for State Views on Proposed Exemption for Certain Individuals with Ties to "Tier III" Organizations
Memorandum discussing the State Department's views on a proposed Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds exemption for some individuals affiliated with undesignated terrorist organizations.
6/28/2018