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From Fox News: The Biden-Harris administration has again blocked a request by Fox News to reveal the nationalities of people on the FBI terror watchlist arrested at the border by Border Patrol, citing the privacy interests of those who were encountered and arguing that it could expose law enforcement “vulnerabilities” and “tip off” terrorists.
“[Customs and Border Protection (CBP)] is committed to protecting the identity of individuals and avoiding divulging information about any individual by either direct or indirect means,” the agency said in a letter to Fox. “Releasing data for a particular nationality, or nationalities, that reflect a small number of individuals could lead to identification, especially by organizations familiar with the individuals.”
Fox’s Bill Melugin filed a Freedom of Information Act request in October 2023 seeking the nationalities of suspects on the FBI terror watchlist arrested at the southern border entering between ports of entry by Border Patrol.
The request sought only the nationalities of those encountered, not the names or dates of birth or any other identifying information.
Melugin shared the following details in a social media post:
NEW: In May, CBP denied my FOIA request seeking *only* the nationalities of terror watchlist suspects arrested by Border Patrol. I appealed, and today, CBP denied my appeal, once again citing privacy & law enforcement sensitivity concerns, saying terrorists could benefit by disclosing the information, & that the privacy of terror watchlist suspects outweighs any public interest.
Excerpts from the CBP letter to me today:
“CBP is committed to protecting the identity of individuals and avoiding divulging information about any individual by either direct or indirect means. Releasing data for a particular nationality, or nationalities, that reflect a small number of individuals could lead to identification, especially by organizations familiar with the individuals.”
“A release of this information would reveal CBP investigative techniques used in apprehending and processing terrorists. Such a release would enable potential violators to design strategies to circumvent the border security techniques developed and employed by CBP in its mission to secure the border and enforce immigration laws by allowing potential violators to better prepare themselves to evade and exploit U.S. immigration and other laws.”
“Terrorist organizations could also benefit from comparing disclosed nationality numbers to their operational numbers. If such an organization were to move “X” number of operatives of one nationality over the relevant period, and the disclosed nationality numbers were substantially lower than X, the terrorist organization could infer a large percentage of its operatives from a particular nationality have been able to move undetected (thereby minimizing the deterrent effect of the TSDS). Conversely, to the extent the disclosed numbers were revealed to be higher than X, the terrorist organization might perceive a need to become more cautious and develop and employ additional countermeasures to evade detection – especially for individuals of a given nationality.”
“Additionally, providing the requested information could disclose terrorist travel trends by geographic area which could help tip off terrorists about the government’s knowledge of travel plans, allowing the terrorists to take countermeasures against the investigators and their investigations.”
“You have not demonstrated any genuine and significant interest in these third parties’ aforementioned personally identifiable information, nor have you articulated how the disclosure of this information would advance the primary goal of the FOIA (i.e., to shed light on the operation of the federal government). As such, we are invoking the (b)(6) exemption for this information in the records being withheld.”
“In sum, CBP asserts that the release of nationality information could reveal the operational focus of the TSDS. Release of nationality information would provide bad actors with valuable information that would allow them to undertake countermeasures to avoid CBP’s law enforcement activities and exploit any vulnerabilities in CBP’s law enforcement efforts. Specifically, release of encounter nationality information would increase the risk of circumvention of laws and regulations, impede effectiveness of law enforcement activities, and endanger agency investigative practices and techniques. Moreover, the disclosure of the nationalities of known suspected terrorists that were apprehended by CBP, as opposed to not apprehended, could signal any vulnerabilities in CBP’s law enforcement efforts of the U.S. borders or shortcomings within the U.S. Government’s national security mission. This information could allow bad actors to reverse engineer effective countermeasures to facilitate undetected movement and activity and thwart CBP interdiction efforts. For these reasons, CBP maintains that these records are appropriately withheld pursuant to Exemption (b)(7)(E).”
“In sum, CBP asserts that the release of nationality information could reveal the operational focus of the TSDS. Release of nationality information would provide bad actors with valuable information that would allow them to undertake countermeasures to avoid CBP’s law enforcement… pic.twitter.com/GWy3hluG1h
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) August 26, 2024
Prior thread on my FOIA request, which I filed on Halloween of last year, and why I appealed CBP’s denial. https://t.co/VXEI8RLU91
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) August 26, 2024
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