Federal Agencies, Agency Memos & Announcements

FOIA Request Compels EOIR to Disclose Docketing Practices

1/11/23 AILA Doc. No. 22111603. Removal & Relief

January 11, 2023

EOIR recently released additional information via FOIA:

Of special interest, EOIR informed DHS to use a dummy date of Aug. 31, 2018 in between when Pereira came out and DHS received full access to ISS. On page 9, there's also an interesting quote from Deputy Chief IJ Santoro stating, "We are writing separately to note that under our current guidance to the courts, they cannot reject NTAs that have facially valid dates/times even if they are the result of DHS inadvertently or intentionally making up their own date that is inconsistent with what ISS gave them" before noting that allowing this process puts them "essentially back in the position of giving DHS carte blanche to make up fake dates" and acknowledging "it's not realistic to expect respondents, especially those who are pro se, to follow the process in the penultimate paragraph of PM [19-08]."

October 23, 2019

EOIR discloses materials related to docketing practices, Pereira v. Sessions, the Uniform Docketing System Manual, and more in response to a FOIA request. Special thanks to AILA member Nico Ratkowski, who filed the FOIA.