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 301–310 of 341
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DOS Memo: Implementation of Rwandan Official Visa Restrictions
Memorandum discussing the implementation of a policy to estrict issuance of visas to current and former Rwandan military officials indicted in 2008 by a Spanish court for war crimes and related offenses
2/26/2019
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Letter from DOS to the S. Comm. on Foreign Rels. re: Report of Visa Denial
Letter disclosing to the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee an invocation of the INA's foreign policy provision.
6/28/2018
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DOS Report: Congressional Report of Visa Denial
Congressional report discussing an unnamed Venezuelan national denied a visa under the INA's foreign policy provision.
11/9/2018
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8 U.S.C. 1182
Verbatim reproduction of the INA's foreign policy provision.
2/26/2019
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DOS Memo: Implementation Guidelines for Visa Restrictions on Individuals Responsible for or Complicit in Human Rights Abuses in Syria
Memorandum discussing visa policy for Syrians, which is almost entirely withheld.
6/28/2018
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DOS Memo: Implementation Guidelines for Visa Restrictions on Syrian Arab Republic Government Officials
Memorandum discussing the implementation of visa restrictions against Syrian officials, which is almost entirely withheld.
6/28/2018
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DOS Memo: Draft Reports of Visa Denial
Report discussing Syrian individuals denied visas under the INA's foreign policy provision.
6/28/2018
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DOS Memo: Additional Background on [redacted]
Memorandum overviewing the INA's Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds provision.
11/9/2018
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DOS Memo: List of Hondurans Proposed for Immediate Restoration of Eligibility to be Considered for U.S. Visas
Memorandum listing individuals subject to the lifting of visa restrictions on individuals associated with the 2009 coup in Honduras.
6/28/2018
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8 U.S.C. 1182
Verbatim reproduction of the INA's foreign policy provision.
6/28/2018