American Immigration Council Calls for USCIS to Conduct Appropriate Searches When Processing FOIA Request for Immigration Records

U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS) maintains alien files (“a-files”) and other records about noncitizens’ immigration history, including their applications for green cards and other immigration benefits, as well as their encounters with immigration enforcement agencies. Every year, noncitizens and/or their attorneys file tens of thousands of requests for these records under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). Obtaining and reviewing them is critical to defending against deportation and/or applying for an immigration benefit.

Reports from immigration lawyers suggest that USCIS is not following its own policies for searching for immigration records before determining that it cannot locate them, let alone conducting the reasonable search that FOIA requires. They also indicate that the agency is not processing requests remanded for supplemental searches after a successive appeal of the deficient search in a timely manner. This conduct violates FOIA and delays, if not prevents, noncitizens and their attorneys from obtaining records needed to remain in or immigrate to the United States.

On November 25, 2024, the Council sent a letter to the USCIS Ombudsman and FOIA Liaison asking them to investigate and cure the agency’s growing pattern of misprocessing FOIA requests for immigration records.