percent of the field offices do meet the 20-day timeframe for responding to requests. timeliness of FOIA performance and to make records available to the …
FY 2002 FOIA Annual Report Component Name: Immigration and Naturalization Service
Attachment A
II How to Make a FOIA Request
Provide a brief description of the components response-time ranges The Immigration and Naturalization Service INS is decentralized INS uses a two-track system in its processing of requests ie, Track 1 Simple requests - process in a brief time, 20 working days or less and Track 2 Complex requests require more than 20 working days to locate, review and prepare for disclosure The overall average age for processing requests for the fiscal year was 35 days Although INS is not in compliance with the 20-day requirement, more than 58 percent of the field offices do meet the 20-day timeframe for responding to requests
IV
Exemption 3 Statutes
A List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by component during reporting fiscal year Please answer by listing the information in the following chart format
Statute/Rule
Type of Information Withheld Provide brief description of type of information withheld Information on Special Agricultural Workers Information concerning legalization applicants
Case Citation Cite court case that has upheld the statute If not upheld, write
None INS has not been challenged on this issue INS has not been challenged on this issue
List Exemption 3 statutes relied on 8 USC 1160B6
8 USC 1255Ac5
FY 2002 FOIA Annual Report Component Name: Immigration and Naturalization Service
Attachment B
V
A
Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests
Number of initial requests
Total of the numbers in Lines 1 and 2, minus the number in Line 3, should equal the number in Line 4 This should include all access requests, whether first-party or third-party 1 Number of requests pending as of end of preceding fiscal year 28,372 2 Number of requests received during current fiscal year 130,511 3 Number of requests processed during current fiscal year 133,368 4 Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year 25,515 Enter this number also in Line VIIB1 B Disposition of initial requests 1 2 3 Number of total grants Number of partial grants Number of denials a 517 65,094 33,971
number of times each FOIA exemption used counting each exemption once per request 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Exemption 1 Exemption 2 Exemption 3 Exemption 4 Exemption 5 Exemption 6 ______6______ __ 6,741______
______84_______ _____444_______ ___20,778______ __169,345____
_
Exemption 7A _10,901______ Exemption 7B ____ 21______ Exemption 7C _175,276_____
10 Exemption 7D ___4,412_____ 11 Exemption 7E ___13,015____ 12 Exemption 7F ______112___
FY 2002 FOIA Annual Report Component Name: Immigration and Naturalization Service
13 Exemption 8 ______0_______ 14 Exemption 9 ______0_______ 4
Attachment B
Other reasons for nondisclosure total _33,786_____ a b c d e No records __9,622_____________ Referrals _____109__________
Request withdrawn ___856____________ Fee-related reason __1,363_____________ Records not reasonably described __143______
f Not a proper FOIA request for some other reason ___8,729__ g h i Not an agency record ___1,496_____ Duplicate request ______7,905______ Other specify Unable to locate Old Records 2,980______ 583______
FY 2002 FOIA Annual Report Component Name: Immigration and Naturalization Service
Attachment C
VII
Compliance with Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests
Using working days, count days from the time at which a request is perfected Separately report each track of a multi-track system, as well as an expedited processing track A component may report any other type of request at its option A Median processing
time for requests processed during the year 1 Simple requests if multiple tracks used a b 2 Number of requests processed _93,165____ Median number of days to process __21_____
Complex requests specify for any and all tracks used a b Number of requests processed __40,203_____ Median number of days to process __46_____
3
Requests accorded expedited processing a b Number of requests processed ____56_______ Median number of days to process __8_____
B
Status of pending requests
Components using multiple tracks should provide numbers for each track, as well as totals 1 Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year Track 1___13,778__ Enter this number from Line VA4 Track 2 11,737__ 2 Median number of days that such requests were pending as of that date Track 1 _____40_____ Track 2 _____68_____
Examples for calculation of median: Given 7 requests completed during the fiscal year, aged 10, 25, 35, 65, 75, 80, and 400 days from date of perfection to date of completion, the total number of requests completed during the fiscal year would be 7 and the median
age of the completed requests would be 65 days If there were 6 pending cases aged 10, 20, 30, 50, 120, and 200 days
from date of perfection to date of completion, the total number of requests completed would be 6 and the median age would be 40 days the average of the 2 middle numbers
FY 2002 FOIA Annual Report Component Name: Immigration and Naturalization Service
Attachment D
VIII
A B C D
Comparisons with Previous Years
Will be handled at Departmentwide level Will be handled at Departmentwide level Will be handled at Departmentwide level Other statistics significant to component Expedited Requests 2,207 Expedited Granted 56
E Other narrative statements describing component efforts to improve timeliness of FOIA performance and to make records available to the public eg, backlog-reduction efforts; specification of average number of hours per processed request; training activities; public availability of new categories of records Optional INS as of July 31, 2002, was exceeding the Department of Justice DOJ mandate for backlog reduction The backlog was under 10,000 cases However, due to technical enhancement problems in the automated system for processing requests ie, FIPS during August and September, the INS did not meet its mandated goal of 11,000 Even though, INS did not meet its mandated
goal, the agency continued to pursue its efforts to meet the mandate prior to system problems INS did the following: 1 continued to coordinate the proposal to centralize the workload; 2 upgraded software and hardware for FIPS; 3 continued with the establishment of a Genealogy Unit that would establish a fee-for-service unit that would process this type of request; and 4 developed and deployed the first phrase of a web-based FOIA and Privacy Act training course This course would provide users with on-line training and support to enable them to process more efficiently
All components are asked to specify here the number of requests for expedited processing that were received, as well as the number granted
FY 2002 FOIA Annual Report Component Name: Immigration and Naturalization Service
Attachment E
IX
Costs/FOIA Staffing
Components such as EOUSA, Tax, Civil, and OIP should include attorneys who handle FOIA litigation in court A Staffing levels 1 Number of full-time FOIA personnel ____256_______
2 Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties in total work-years ______0__________ 3 B Total number of personnel in work-years ______256_________
Total costs
including staff and all resources 1 FOIA processing including appeals 12,177,143 79,139
2 Litigation-related activities estimated 33 attorneys @ 1765 hours 3 Total costs 12,256,282 _
4 Comparison with previous years, including percentage of change optional In FY-01, INS reported total costs of 9,624,620 INS reports in FY-02 a total cost of 12,256,282 This costs shows an increase of resources by 2,631,662 ie, a 273 percent increase The increase is a result of additional hiring of employees at the National Records Center and more time spent on FOIA litigation due to the events of September 11, 2001 C Statement of additional resources needed for FOIA compliance optional Additional funding is not needed at this time
X
Fees
Includes charges for search, review, document duplication, and any other direct cost permitted under agency regulations A Total amount of fees collected for processing requests _107,472_____ B Percentage of total costs __08____
In addition to personnel costs, this may include estimates for such items as photocopying, postage, data- processing services, and any items of overhead that are reasonably allocable to FOIA operations
Provide best estimate in
accordance with supplemental annual report guidance Attachment F Also include such litigation-related activities as writing declarations, Vaughn Indexes, briefs, and letters, as well as and meetings, depositions, conferences, telephone calls, etc
