FOIA Exceptions
Documents may be withheld from FOIA disclosure under one of nine exceptions. These exceptions cover: (1) national security; (2) internal agency personnel rules and practice; (3) information already specifically exempted from disclosure by other federal law; (4) trade secrets and confidential commercial information; (5) internal agency memoranda and policy discussions; (6) personal privacy; (7) law enforcement investigation; (8) federally regulated banks; and (9) oil and gas wells. The only mandatory FOIA exemptions are Exemptions 1, 3, 6 and 7. All other exemptions are discretionary and should be narrowly construed. Agencies must release segregable nonexempt portions of a partially exempt record. The most frequent exemptions used to deny an alien’s FOIA request are Exemptions 2, 5, 7(E) and 7(C). An agency’s for invoking a FOIA exemption is sufficient if it “appears logical or plausible.”
FOIA Denial Rates
Despite the Freedom of Information Act’s broad grant of disclosure, aliens’ FOIA requests are habitually denied. Statistics from the 2012 fiscal year indicate that, out of the 145,277 FOIA requests received by USCIS, 86,372 were denied in full or in part. Similarly, ICE denied in full or in part 16,719 out of the 21,220 requests it received. This represents a USCIS denial rate of approximately 59% and an ICE denial rate of approximately 79%. These figures are well above the denial rate aggregated across all agency branches and departments, which currently stands at 32%.