Mexico’s Senate is now in the process of selecting the country’s new information commissioners who will be at the center of pivotal transparency and human rights decisions for years to come. The competition is intense, with 158 candidates vying for the seven top positions at the Federal Access to Information Institute (IFAI). Continue reading
Category Archives: FOIA Notes
Mexico’s Transparency Reforms, Part I: Migrant Rights and the Legacy of the Outgoing IFAI Commissioners
This post was co-authored by Michael Evans and Jesse Franzblau. Clearing the decks after a recent overhaul of Mexico’s transparency regime, the Mexican Senate last week rejected a request by the current group of Federal Institute for Access to Information (IFAI) commissioners to remain in their posts until the end of their current terms. Beginning in May, the … Continue reading
INM Defies IFAI; Still Has No Record of Meeting with Top U.S. Migration Official
Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) cannot locate a single document or electronic record relating to a 2008 meeting between INM commissioner, Cecilia Romero, and the U.S. State Department official in charge of monitoring and combating human trafficking. INM continues to declare the “non-existence” of such records despite an exhaustive, 44-page ruling from the country’s information commissioners … Continue reading
Mexico Fusion Center: NSA Refuses to Acknowledge “Existence or Non-existence” of Documents on U.S. Intelligence Facility
The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) refuses to acknowledge its involvement in a Top Secret U.S. intelligence facility in Mexico City, despite previously declassified information describing its role. The NSA issued the “Glomar” denial in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request we filed last year. The agency did so even after we … Continue reading
FOIA NOTES: Call for Border Patrol to Use Restraint against Rock Throwers Censored from DHS Report
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) censored part of an internal report calling on U.S. Border Patrol agents to exercise restraint in confrontations with rock throwers at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to an article published in today’s Washington Post. First published by the DHS inspector general in September 2013 with significant redactions, a complete copy of … Continue reading
FOIA NOTES: Declassified U.S. Cable Cited in Decision to Overturn Migration Institute’s “Inexistence” Claim
Citing information in a declassified U.S. State Department cable, Mexico’s information commissioners have overturned a determination by the country’s National Migration Institute (INM) that it did not have records on the 2008 visit of Ambassador Mark Lagon, then the top U.S. official in charge of monitoring and combating human trafficking. The case stems from a … Continue reading
FOIA NOTES: U.S., Mexico Clashed over Deportation Program
Mexico and the United States disagreed over important aspects of a controversial U.S. deportation program, according to the declassified minutes of a 2011 bilateral meeting involving officials from both sides of the border. The meeting focused on Mexico’s complaints about the Alien Transfer Exit Program (ATEP), through which the U.S. attempts to disrupt repeated attempts … Continue reading
FOIA NOTES: CBP Stonewalling on Border Shootings
Recent FOIA requests for records on fatal borders shootings have been met by stonewalling from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The FOIA requests are part of an organized effort to pierce the veil of secrecy around the disturbing increase in the number of people killed by U.S. agents patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border in … Continue reading
FOIA NOTES: ICE’s Controversial Secure Communities Program
Recently, the Archive launched a new round of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on what has become one of the most controversial immigration enforcement initiatives in the United States: the Secure Communities deportation program. The data-sharing program requires participating state and municipal jurisdictions to run the fingerprints of arrestees through various federal law enforcement … Continue reading
Migration Declassified 