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 201–210 of 341
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DOS Memo: Implementation Guidelines [redacted]
Memorandum discussing the implementation of a visa policy and briefly referencing possible reliance on the INA's foreign policy provision.
6/28/2018
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DOS Memo: Response to Letter [redacted]
Memorandum from Harold Koh responding to some letter, almost entirely withheld.
11/9/2018
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DOS Memo: Modifications to Fiji Visa Restrictions
Memorandum proposing an exception to Fijian visa restrictions for lower-level officials who had no substantive role in the 2006 coup who seek to attend meetings of international organizations or conferences.
2/26/2019
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DOS Memo: [redacted]
Memorandum proposing an exception to Fijian visa restrictions for officials who seek to attend meetings of international organizations or conferences.
6/28/2018
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Foreign Affairs Manual Vol. 9 § 40.32: Terrorist Activities
Manual reproducing in full INA § 212(a)(3)(B), setting out the terrorism-related grounds for inadmissibility.
6/28/2018
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USCIS Presentation re: Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds
Presentation used in the USCIS Academy's basic course overviewing Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds set out in the INA.
6/29/2018
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USCIS Guide re: Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds
Guide used in the USCIS Academy's basic course overviewing Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds set out in the INA.
6/29/2018
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USCIS Guide re: Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds
Guide used in the USCIS Academy's basic course overviewing Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds set out in the INA.
6/29/2018
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DOS Memo re: Supporters of Honduran De Facto Regime
Memorandum listing recommended visa denials for officials and supporters of the Honduran de facto regime, almost entirely withheld.
11/9/2018
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DOS Memo: Guinea: Visa Revocations
Memorandum presumably discussing the revocation of visas from Guinea nationals, though it is almost entirely withheld.
11/9/2018