U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528

Homeland
Security
Privacy Office, Mail Stop 0655

August 18, 2017
Austin Evers
American Oversight
1030 15th Street, NW
Suite B255
Washington, DC 20005
Re: 2017-HQFO-00569
Dear Mr. Evers:
This is the final response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS), dated March 21, 2017, and received by this office on March 21,
2017. You are seeking the following:
1. All communications, informational materials, talking points, reports, assessments, analyses, or
other materials regarding the cost of the proposed wall, including any fence or other physical
barrier along the U.S. Mexico border;
2. All communications, informational materials, talking points, reports, assessments, analyses, or
other materials regarding the availability of budgeted funds, and/or constraints on planning for
and construction of such a wall, fence, or other physical barrier;
3. All communications, informational materials, talking points, reports, assessments, analyses, or
other materials regarding the availability or unavailability of current appropriations for planning
for and construction of such a wall, fence, or other physical barrier, including any evaluation,
assessment, or analysis of currently available appropriations that could be used to fund design,
preliminary work, or construction of such a wall, fence, or other physical barrier; and
4. All communications concerning the appropriations and budgeting requests concerning the
wall, fence, or other physical barrier between DHS or its components and Congress, including
congressional committees or staff including any communications sent or received by DHS or its
components, or communications upon which DHS or its components were copied.
We conducted a comprehensive search for records that would be responsive to your request.
Unfortunately, we were unable to locate or identify any responsive records. We also transferred
the request to Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) as we determined that they may also have
records responsive to this request.

1

 While an adequate search was conducted, you have the right to appeal this determination that no
records exist that would be responsive to your request. Should you wish to do so, you must send
your appeal and a copy of this letter, within 90 days of the date of this letter, to: Privacy Office,
Attn: FOIA Appeals, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 245 Murray Lane, SW, Mail Stop
0655, Washington, D.C. 20528-0655, following the procedures outlined in the DHS FOIA
regulations at 6 C.F.R. Part 5 § 5.8. Your envelope and letter should be marked “FOIA Appeal.”
Copies of the FOIA and DHS FOIA regulations are available at www.dhs.gov/foia.
If you need any further assistance or would like to discuss any aspect of your request, please
contact the analyst below who processed your request and refer to 2017-HQFO-00569.
You may send an e-mail to foia@hq.dhs.gov, call 202-343-1743 or toll free 1-866-431-0486, or
you may contact our FOIA Public Liaison in the same manner. Additionally, you have a right to
right to seek dispute resolution services from the Office of Government Information Services
(OGIS) which mediates disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies as a nonexclusive alternative to litigation. If you are requesting access to your own records (which is
considered a Privacy Act request), you should know that OGIS does not have the authority to
handle requests made under the Privacy Act of 1974. You may contact OGIS as follows: Office
of Government Information Services, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601
Adelphi Road-OGIS, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001, e-mail at ogis@nara.gov; telephone
at 202-741-5770; toll free at 1-877-684-6448; or facsimile at 202-741-5769.
Provisions of FOIA allow DHS to charge for processing fees, up to $25, unless you seek a
waiver of fees. In this instance, because the cost is below the $25 minimum, there is no charge.
Sincerely,

Kevin L. Tyrrell
Director FOIA Appeals and Litigation