Seeking Records about DHS’s Unprecedent Mass Influx Declaration and Associated Agreements With State and Local Law Enforcement
On January 23, 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) Secretary declared that “an actual or imminent mass influx” of noncitizens is arriving along the entire southern border of the United States. This declaration—the first ever of its kind—allows the Secretary to ask state and local governments for help administering U.S. immigration law and to designate state and local law enforcement officers as immigration officers. Since then, Border Patrol has deputized 300 national guardsmen to conduct immigration arrests under a newly executed agreement with the Texas National Guard.
But border crossings are down. Border Patrol encountered only 96,048 people at the southern border in December 2024—20,000 fewer than in October 2024, 84,000 fewer than in May 2024, and 205,000 fewer than in December 2023.
On February 19, the Council and Documented—a NYC-based immigration news organization—filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) and U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) for records considered by the DHS Secretary when making his mass influx declaration, agreements executed by ICE, CBP, and DHS with state and local law enforcement agencies pursuant to this declaration, and a recent agreement between ICE and Nassau County. The Council and Documented sought expedited processing of their request.
Access to these records is crucial for the public to understand the Trump Administration’s novel use of long-dormant provisions of U.S. immigration law and its unprecedented use of state and local law enforcement officers in immigration enforcement.
