Case 3:18-cv-00428-DMS-MDD Document 148-1 Filed 07/24/18 PageID.2461 Page 1 of 5 1 CHAD A. READLER Acting Assistant Attorney General 2 WILLIAM C. PEACHEY Director, Office of Immigration Litigation (OIL) 3 U.S. Department of Justice WILLIAM C. SILVIS 4 Assistant Director, OIL District Court Section SARAH B. FABIAN 5 Senior Litigation Counsel NICOLE MURLEY 6 Trial Attorney Office of Immigration Litigation 7 U.S. Department of Justice Box 868, Ben Franklin Station 8 Washington, DC 20442 Telephone: (202) 532-4824 9 Fax: (202) 616-8962 10 ADAM L. BRAVERMAN United States Attorney 11 SAMUEL W. BETTWY Assistant U.S. Attorney 12 California Bar No. 94918 Office of the U.S. Attorney 13 880 Front Street, Room 6293 San Diego, CA 92101-8893 14 619-546-7125 619-546-7751 (fax) 15 Attorneys for Federal Respondents-Defendants 16 17 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 18 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 19 20 MS. L, et al., Petitioners-Plaintiffs, 21 22 Case No. 18-cv-428 DMS MDD vs. 23 U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, et al., 24 Respondents-Defendants. 25 26 27 28 Declaration of David W. Jennings Case 3:18-cv-00428-DMS-MDD Document 148-1 Filed 07/24/18 PageID.2462 Page 2 of 5 1 DECLARATION OF DAVID W. JENNINGS 2 3 I, David W. Jennings, hereby make the following declaration with respect to the 4 above-captioned matter: 5 1. I am the Acting Assistant Director for Headquarters Field Operations within 6 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and 7 Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). 8 Headquarters Field Operations consists of three divisions, Domestic 9 Operations, Special Operations, and Law Enforcement Systems and Analysis, 10 all of which provide guidance, implement and inform policy and procedures, 11 and facilitate enhanced coordination between Headquarters and 24 Field 12 Offices across the country. In this position, I supervise all field operations, 13 providing guidance and coordination in support of ERO's enforcement and 14 removal efforts conducted by its Field Offices. 15 2. I have been employed with ICE and the former Immigration and 16 Naturalization Service since 1994. I have performed duties in both ERO 17 (1994-2001; 2005 to present) and the legacy Office of Investigations, now 18 Homeland Security Investigations (2001-2005). From June 26, 2016 to 19 present, I have been employed as the Field Office Director (FOD) for the 20 San Francisco Field Office. I served as the Acting Deputy Assistant 21 Director for Domestic Operations, covering Western Operations, from 22 September 2017 until April 2018. From May 2018 to present, I have 23 served as Acting Assistant Director for Field Operations. Prior to this 24 assignment, I served as the FOD for the Los Angeles Field Office. During 25 my career, I have also served as a Supervisory Detention and Deportation 26 Officer in the San Francisco Field Office; an Assistant Field Office Director 27 28 1 18cv428 DMS MDD Case 3:18-cv-00428-DMS-MDD Document 148-1 Filed 07/24/18 PageID.2463 Page 3 of 5 1 for the Seattle Field Office; a Deputy Field Office Director (DFOD) for the 2 San Francisco Field Office; and the FOD for the Houston Field Office. 3 3. This declaration is based upon my personal knowledge, information obtained 4 from other individuals employed by ICE, and information obtained from 5 DHS records. 6 4. On July 11, 2018, pursuant to the direction of this Court, I directed all ICE 7 ERO field offices to immediately post copies of the Notice of Potential 8 Rights for Certain Detained Alien Parents Separated from their Minor 9 Children, in English and Spanish, in all facilities in which Ms. L class 10 members are detained. I directed that the Notice be posted in areas in which 11 it would be accessible to detainees, such as housing areas, dining halls, and 12 law libraries. I directed that the Notice be posted by close of business on July 13 12, 2018, and have confirmed that the Notices have been posted. 14 5. I also directed all ICE ERO Field Offices to provide the Election page with 15 the Notice printed on the back to each class member with an executable final 16 order of removal. I directed that an officer read the Election page to the class 17 member in a language that the class member understands, using an interpreter 18 if necessary, and fill out the certificate of service. ICE is in the process of 19 manually compiling the Election forms of class members. To date, 417 20 Election forms have been compiled. Of those, ICE has identified 85 class 21 members who elected to be removed without their child, 316 class members 22 who elected reunification prior to removal, and 16 class members who either 23 declined to sign the form or requested time to talk to an attorney. 24 6. I am aware of the Preliminary Injunction ordered by this Court on June 26, 25 2018. I am aware that pursuant to a preliminary injunction issued by this 26 Court on June 26, 2018, the Court ordered ICE and other Defendants to 27 facilitate regular communication between class members detained in ICE 28 2 18cv428 DMS MDD Case 3:18-cv-00428-DMS-MDD Document 148-1 Filed 07/24/18 PageID.2464 Page 4 of 5 1 custody and their children in the custody of U.S. Department of Health and 2 Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHS/ORR), HHS/ORR 3 foster care, or DHS custody. Prior to the Court’s order, on June 23, 2018, I 4 instructed FODs and DFODs to facilitate communication between separated 5 parents and their children. First line supervisors were required to ensure that 6 telephone calls had occurred and that they were documented accordingly. 7 7. Upon issuance of the Court’s June 26, 2018 order, ICE continued to take 8 significant steps to implement this portion of the Court’s order, including 9 coordinated action to facilitate and conduct phone calls between parents 10 detained in ICE custody and children in HHS/ORR care. ICE further used 11 shared data sources to identify and prioritize phone calls for ICE detainees 12 who were unable to establish contact with their children. Using continuously 13 updated contact lists, ICE collaborated with HHS/ORR to establish contact 14 between ICE facilities and case managers at ORR shelters nationwide. To 15 ensure that all ICE detainees were able to communicate with their children, 16 each ICE FOD nationwide was required to certify that all detained parents in 17 his or her Area of Responsibility were able to communicate with their 18 children. Following initial communication, efforts have continued to ensure 19 ongoing contact through telephone calls or video visitation 20 8. ICE currently maintains three Family Residential Centers. Due to current 21 demands, ICE requested and received appropriations to house up to 2,500 22 aliens in family detention. Although the Family Residential Centers have a 23 total capacity of 3,326, family composition and other factors limit the total 24 usable family beds to between approximately 2,500 and 2,700. ICE’s current 25 family detention population is a fixed cost of $319.00 per person, per day. 26 Although ICE pays a fixed rate for family detention space, maintaining 27 custody of certain aliens for a longer period than necessary to effectuate 28 3 18cv428 DMS MDD Case 3:18-cv-00428-DMS-MDD Document 148-1 Filed 07/24/18 PageID.2465 Page 5 of 5 1 removal diverts detention resources away from other cases, impeding ICE’s 2 ability to carry out the core mission of efficiently enforcing the nation’s 3 immigration laws. 4 9. A valid passport or other travel document is required to effectuate an alien’s 5 removal from the United States. The majority of aliens currently detained in 6 ICE’s Family Residential Centers are from Central America. Most of them 7 arrive without a valid passport. ICE has agreements with Central American 8 countries to facilitate expedited issuance of electronic travel documents. 9 After a travel document is issued, the alien (or family unit) can be added to a 10 manifest on charter aircraft for removal. A brief delay of up to two days 11 would allow Class Members to consult with counsel while ICE 12 simultaneously initiates the process of obtaining travel documents for 13 removal. A longer timeframe would create inefficiencies, increase cost, and 14 significantly hamper ICE’s efforts to expeditiously enforce removal orders. 15 Each addition day delay in removal would not only deplete limited taxpayer 16 resources, but they also extend aliens’ time in detention and exclude 17 detention beds being used during the delay. As a result, family units engaged 18 earlier in the process would wait longer for their cases to be completed, 19 further exacerbating the already backlogged removal process. 20 Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1746, I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is 21 true and correct. 22 23 Executed this 24th day of July 2018, in Washington, D.C. 24 25 26 27 _____________________ David W. Jennings Assistant Director Enforcement and Removal Operations U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 28 4 18cv428 DMS MDD