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

Homeland
Security
Privacy Office, Mail Stop 0655

September 6, 2019
SENT BY ELECTRONIC MAIL TO: foia@americanoversight.org
Austin R. Evers
Executive Director
American Oversight
1030 15th Street, NW Suite B255
Washington, DC 20005
Re: 2019-HQFO-00278
Dear Mr. Evers:
This is the electronic final response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), dated January 10, 2019, and received by this office on
January 14, 2019. You are seeking records sufficient to identify the number of immigrants
entering or attempting to enter the United States at ports of entry on the U.S. Mexico border
whose names were on a federal government list of known or suspected terrorists in fiscal year
2018, located in the Office of the Secretary, Office of Public Affairs, and Office of Legislative
Affairs. (Date Range for Record Search: From 10/1/2018 to 1/10/2019).
We conducted a comprehensive search of files within the Office of the Executive Secretariat
(ESEC), Office of Public Affairs (OPA), and Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) for records that
would be responsive to your request. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate or identify any
responsive records.
While an adequate search was conducted, you have the right to appeal this determination that no
records exist within ESEC, OPA or OLA 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.
In addition, our office forwarded your request to the FOIA Office for U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) for their review. CBP advised our office to transfer your request to their office
for review and direct response to you. As such, we have referred your request to their FOIA
Officer for review and direct response to you. Please find their contact information here:

 U. S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP)
FOIA Officer
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
90 K Street, NE
FOIA Division
Washington, DC 20229
Phone: 202-325-0150
CBP Website
You have a right to appeal the above withholding determination. 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.
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.
Additionally, you have a 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 non-exclusive 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 202-7415769.
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 2019-HQFO-00278. 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.
Sincerely,

James Holzer
Deputy Chief FOIA Officer