FOIA request repository
We post our and our partners’ Freedom of Information Act requests and related litigation filings in order to help others seek data.
FOIA requests
DHS persist data
| Request | Data from all nonexempt categories of records in the Department of Homeland Security PERSIST dataset |
| Agency | Department of Homeland Security |
| Requestor | Graeme Blair; David Hausman; Elora Mukherjee; Deportation Data Project |
| Agency response | No responsive records produced yet |
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ICE criminal arrests and Homeland Security Investigations administrative arrests data
| Request | Data on criminal arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), as well as on administrative arrests made by HSI |
| Agency | Immigration and Customs Enforcement |
| Requestor | Graeme Blair; David Hausman; Elora Mukherjee; Deportation Data Project |
| Agency response | No responsive records produced yet |
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ICE arrests, detainers, detentions, encounters, and removals data
| Request | Data on ICE enforcement actions, including removals, detentions, arrest/apprehensions, encounters, and detainers |
| Agency | Immigration and Customs Enforcement |
| Requestor | Graeme Blair; David Hausman; Elora Mukherjee; Deportation Data Project |
| Agency response | Responsive records produced in response to litigation |
| Litigation | See below: Mukherjee v. ICE; CILP v. ICE; ACLU IRP v. ICE |
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CBP encounters and inadmissible data
| Request | Data on encounters and people determined inadmissible into the United States by Customs and Border Protection |
| Agency | Customs and Border Protection |
| Requestor | Graeme Blair; David Hausman; Elora Mukherjee; Deportation Data Project |
| Agency response | Some of the data requested has been posted on the CBP FOIA Reading Room, but is out of date and does not include unique identifiers |
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CBP Unified Immigration Portal data
| Request | All non-identifying electronic spreadsheet data accessible via queries through the Customs and Border Protection Unified Immigration Portal (UIP) |
| Agency | Customs and Border Protection |
| Requestor | Center for Just and Sustainable Futures at Yale Law School; ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project; Graeme Blair; David Hausman; Elora Mukherjee; Deportation Data Project |
| Agency response | No responsive records produced |
| Litigation | See below: ACLU v. CBP |
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USCIS Person Centric Query Service data
| Request | All non-identifying electronic spreadsheet data accessible via queries through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Person-Centric Query Service (PCQS) |
| Agency | U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services |
| Requestor | Center for Just and Sustainable Futures at Yale Law School; ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project; Elora Mukherjee; Deportation Data Project |
| Agency response | • USCIS denied request, suggesting that PCQS does not store data • Requestors appealed this determination |
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USCIS immigration applications data
| Request | Data on immigration applications and asylum-related decisions maintained by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services |
| Agency | U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services |
| Requestor | UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy;Graeme Blair; David Hausman; Elora Mukherjee; Deportation Data Project |
| Agency response | No responsive records produced |
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ICE arrests, detainers, detentions, encounters, and removals data – CILP
| Request | Data on ICE removals, Secure Communities removals, detentions, arrest/apprehensions, encounters, alternatives to detention, and orders of supervision with anonymized identifiers for immigrants and linked immigration court EOIR case numbers |
| Agency | Immigration and Customs Enforcement |
| Requestor | UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy; David Hausman |
| Counsel | Michael Levin-Gesundheit |
| Date | May 2024 |
| Agency response | None |
| Litigation | See below: CILP v. ICE |
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ICE arrests, detentions, risk classification assessments, and removals data with anonymized identifiers
The decision in this case led to the requirement that agencies replace private identifiers with anonymized unique IDs if those private identifiers are needed to link different parts of an agency’s database.
| Request | Data on ICE initial apprehensions, risk classification assessments, detentions, and removals with anonymized identifiers for immigrants |
| Agency | Immigration and Customs Enforcement |
| Requestor | ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project; David Hausman |
| Date | Oct. 2018 |
| Agency response | None |
| Litigation | See below: ACLU v. ICE |
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Litigation
Mukherjee v. ICE (2025–)
| Request | Data on ICE enforcement actions, including removals, detentions, arrest/apprehensions, encounters, and detainers |
| Agency | Immigration and Customs Enforcement |
| Plaintiff | Elora Mukherjee |
| Counsel | Amber Qureshi |
| Date Filed | September 29, 2025 |
| Agency response | • ICE denied requests for expedited treatment • Requestor received no further response or communication from ICE |
| Litigation | Federal district court lawsuit (ongoing) |
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ACLU v. CBP (2025–)
| Request | All non-identifying electronic spreadsheet data accessible via queries through the Customs and Border Protection Unified Immigration Portal (UIP) |
| Agency | Customs and Border Protection |
| Plaintiff | ACLU |
| Counsel | Amber Qureshi |
| Date Filed | September 19, 2025 |
| Agency response | • CBP indicated that it identified records potentially responsive to the request • Requestors received no further communication; CBP produced no records in response to the request |
| Litigation | Federal district court lawsuit (ongoing) |
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CILP v. ICE (2024–)
| Request | Data on ICE enforcement actions, including removals, detentions, arrest/apprehensions, encounters, and detainers |
| Agency | Immigration and Customs Enforcement |
| Plaintiff | UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy |
| Counsel | Michael Levin-Gesundheit; Celena Heredia Nelson; Ahilan Arulanantham; Amber Qureshi |
| Date Filed | December 4, 2024 |
| Agency response | None |
| Litigation | • Federal district court lawsuit (ongoing) • First data released provided through March 2025 • Second data release through early June 2025 • Third release through late June 2025 • Fourth release through late July 2025 • Fifth release through mid October 2025 |
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ACLU IRP v. ICE (2018–2023)
The decision in this case led to the requirement that agencies replace private identifiers with anonymized unique IDs if those private identifiers are needed to link different parts of an agency’s database.
| Request | Data on ICE initial apprehensions, risk classification assessments, detentions, and removals with anonymized identifiers for immigrants |
| Agency | Immigration and Customs Enforcement |
| Plaintiff | ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project |
| Date Filed | July 29, 2019 |
| Agency response | None |
| Litigation | • Federal district court lawsuit • Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision • Data provided November 2023 |