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USCIS · Staffing and backlog · Request IRW-054

DHS and ICE staff helping with FOIA work, 2025

This request asks for records about help that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) staff gave the USCIS FOIA program between about July and October 2025. It asks about the arrangement and its approval papers, the number of people and hours, the kinds of work done (processing cases versus approving them), case counts, and any assessment of the effect on the A-File backlog (A-Files are people's immigration files). It also asks for records of the decision to end the help around October 2025 and related messages to National Records Center front-office leadership.

Why it matters
The records would show who worked on requests for immigration files during that period, and in what role.
ProcessingExtension invoked 27 business days since filing (39 calendar days)

Figures as of Oct 17, 2026. Check after Nov 16, 2026: if you are reading later than that, these figures may be out of date.

These figures are more than 30 days old. They may not reflect what has happened since Oct 17, 2026.

Extension invoked
USCIS told the requester it would invoke the 10-working-day "unusual circumstances" extension the law allows (5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6)(B)). What an extension means

Timeline

  1. FiledSep 8, 2026
  2. Acknowledged by USCISOct 7, 2026
  3. Final responseNot yet received

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Template T-46
Records concerning the assistance provided to the USCIS FOIA program by Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel between approximately July 2025 and October 2025, including the tasking or detail arrangement and its authorizing documents; the number of personnel and hours contributed; the categories of work performed, distinguishing case processing from case approval; case counts; any assessment of the assistance's effect on the A-File backlog, records of the decision to end the assistance in or about October 2025, and any related correspondence communicated to NRC Front office leadership (including the National Records Center Director).
How to file it