How to File an ICE FOIA Request: Costs, Timeline, and Appeals

To file an ICE FOIA request, submit it through the agency’s secureRelease.us portal, by email to ICE-FOIA@dhs.gov, or by mail to the ICE FOIA Office in Washington, D.C., with enough identifying information to locate the records and, if you’re asking for your own file, a signed identity verification.¹ Any person can file, regardless of citizenship.² The part that trips people up is picking the right agency: ICE releases its own enforcement and detention records, but the full immigration history file, the Alien File or A-File, is released by USCIS.³ Send the wrong request to the wrong agency and you can wait months only to be told to start over.

Make Sure ICE Is the Right Agency

ICE processes a narrow set of records tied to enforcement and detention. A blanket request to ICE for “everything about me” will either be redirected or partly denied. The categories ICE handles directly include:

Form I-213, the Record of Deportable/Removable Alien created when officers apprehend someone
Detention records such as housing assignments and disciplinary logs
Medical records generated during ICE custody
SEVIS records for people who held F-1, J-1, M-1, or similar student and exchange visitor status
Bond obligor and investigation records
ICE detainers and warrants sent to local law enforcement

These are the categories ICE lists on its own FOIA page.¹ If you want the complete A-File, which contains applications, petitions, and enforcement actions compiled across agencies, that request goes to USCIS.³ Entry and exit records at ports of entry are held by Customs and Border Protection.

How to Submit Your Request

The fastest route is the online portal at secureRelease.us, which lets you upload your request and identity documents immediately.¹ For paper submissions, mail your request to the Freedom of Information Act Office, 500 12th Street SW, Stop 5009, Washington, D.C. 20536-5009. You can also email materials to ICE-FOIA@dhs.gov.⁴

Whatever channel you use, the request needs enough identifying information for ICE to find the right file. Include the subject’s full legal name, any aliases, date of birth, and country of birth. If you know the nine-digit Alien Registration Number (the A-Number), include it. That single identifier is the most useful piece of information in the immigration system and speeds up the search substantially.

Form G-639 is available to structure your request, but it was designed primarily for USCIS and its use is optional. ICE accepts any written request that meets FOIA and Privacy Act requirements.⁵ More important than the form itself is identity verification. If you’re requesting your own records, the Privacy Act requires you to verify your identity with either a notarized signature or a declaration signed under penalty of perjury.⁶

Requesting Someone Else’s Records

Attorneys and family members need additional paperwork. The subject of the records must sign ICE Form 60-001, the Privacy Waiver Authorizing Disclosure to a Third Party, and still verify their own identity under penalty of perjury or before a notary.⁷ Attorneys also submit Form G-28 to establish their authority as a legal representative.⁸ Without both the waiver and the G-28, ICE will not release another person’s records. If the subject is deceased, proof of death can be submitted in place of a consent form.⁹

How Long It Takes

FOIA gives agencies 20 working days to issue an initial determination.¹⁰ ICE rarely meets that deadline in practice. The agency sorts requests onto three tracks:

Simple track: specific documents with a low volume of records. These move fastest but still often run past the statutory deadline.
Complex track: large volumes or interagency consultation. These routinely take several months, and backlogs of a year or more are not unusual.
Expedited track: reserved for requests showing a “compelling need,” meaning either an imminent threat to someone’s life or physical safety or, mainly for journalists, an urgency to inform the public about government activity.¹⁰

To get expedited processing you must submit a certified statement explaining why your situation meets the standard. The bar is high. Pending deportation proceedings have a stronger shot than a general wish for a faster answer. The 20-day clock also pauses if ICE asks you for additional information or needs to resolve a fee question, and restarts when you respond.¹⁰

What It Costs

Most individuals requesting their own ICE records pay nothing. Under DHS regulations, requesters who are not commercial, media, or academic are entitled to the first two hours of search time and the first 100 pages of duplication at no cost. Educational and noncommercial scientific institutions and news media pay only duplication costs, with the first 100 pages free. Commercial requesters pay for search, review, and duplication. DHS will not bill you at all if the chargeable total comes to $14.00 or less after the free allowances are applied.¹¹

A full fee waiver is separately available when disclosure would significantly contribute to public understanding of government operations and the request is not primarily for commercial benefit.¹⁰ Journalists and researchers have the strongest case for it. An individual requesting their own detention file for use in their own immigration case usually will not qualify, but the free allowances typically cover the cost anyway.

Tracking the Request

After ICE receives your submission, you’ll get an acknowledgment with a tracking number in the format 2022-ICFO-XXXXX (or the current year prefix). You can check status through the secureRelease.us portal using that number.¹ If ICE needs clarification, it will send a notice. Respond quickly, because the processing clock pauses while the agency waits.

What Will Be Redacted

Getting a response does not mean getting everything. FOIA has nine exemptions that let agencies withhold material.² In ICE files, a few come up repeatedly. Exemption 6 protects personal privacy, so identifying information about other people mentioned in your records is usually blacked out. Exemption 7 covers law enforcement records, and its subparts allow ICE to withhold material that could interfere with ongoing proceedings, reveal confidential sources, disclose investigative techniques, or endanger physical safety.¹² Exemption 7C, protecting third-party privacy in law enforcement records, is the one you’ll see cited most often; it’s what ICE relies on to redact officer, agent, and informant names. Exemption 5 sometimes shields internal deliberations, such as communications between ICE attorneys and field offices about your case.

The response letter must identify the specific exemption applied to each redaction.² If a cited exemption doesn’t seem to fit the material withheld, that’s worth raising on appeal.

Appealing a Denial

If ICE denies your request in whole or in part, or fails to respond within the statutory timeframe, you can file an administrative appeal. You have at least 90 days from the date of the adverse determination.¹⁰ Send your appeal in writing to GILDFOIAAPPEALS@ice.dhs.gov or by mail to the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, Government Information Law Division, 500 12th Street SW, Stop 5900, Washington, DC 20536-5900.¹ Include the tracking number from your original request, identify which portions of the denial you’re challenging, and explain why the cited exemptions don’t apply or were applied too broadly.

ICE must respond to the appeal within 20 working days.¹⁰ If the denial is upheld, the response must inform you of your right to seek judicial review in federal court. Before that step, you can also contact the Office of Government Information Services at the National Archives, which serves as a FOIA ombudsman and can mediate disputes between requesters and agencies.

1
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
2
FOIA.gov. Freedom of Information Act Frequently Asked Questions
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Request Records through the Freedom of Information Act or Privacy Act
4
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Contact
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Form G-639
6
National Archives. Guide to Making a Privacy Act Request
7
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE Form 60-001 Privacy Waiver Authorizing Disclosure to a Third Party
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative
9
National Archives. Using FOIA to Access Immigration Records
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 552 – Public Information; Agency Rules, Opinions, Orders, Records, and Proceedings
11
eCFR. 6 CFR 5.11 – Fees
12
Homeland Security. FOIA Exemptions