The border agency's record had its outcome blacked out. Only the A-file held the unredacted order, at p. 212. His own account says he came back about two months later without inspection.
Nine features
Immigration FOIA request work, from the first draft to the signed history memo
Requests drafted and chased first, each return read as it lands, then the flags, the appeal and the memo the attorney signs.
- 01Request draft
A request for each agency, filled once from the client's identifiers
How it works
- Name variants, birth details, consent route and hearing proof filled from the intake
- All four spellings of the client's name listed, after a rejection for name order
- Checked before filing: one person per request, consent verified, hearing proof attached
- A visa refusal found at A-file p. 1031 prompts a new request to the visa office
FOIA paralegalStops the rejections that cost weeks: a name in the wrong order, an attorney's address without sworn verification, a consent uploaded but never verified.
- 02Requests by agency
Every request on one board, tracked against the agency's answer clock
How it works
- One row per agency with its portal, control number, filing and return
- A dotted mark shows where the 20-business-day answer time fell
- A rejection shows as a red mark on the request's own row
- 1,640 pages came back over 9 months, and each agency missed the 20-day mark
FOIA paralegalSees which agency is late and which request bounced without logging in to five portals to find out.
- 03Hearings coming
A hearings rail that shows which clients still wait on records
How it works
- Clients with hearings coming, sorted by date, each with how many returns are in
- An overdue return, a rejection or a pending consent shows on the client's row
- A banner says when a return lands: here, the A-file at 1,140 pages
- Before it is read, the line holds 22 events and 2 risk flags
Attorney of recordKnows for each client on the calendar whether she can advise yet, or is still waiting on the government's file.
- 04Reading the A-file
Each return read page by page into the history as it lands
How it works
- All 1,140 A-file pages read, typed, handwritten or scanned; 96 partly redacted, 11 withheld in full
- 19 new events found, with a page citation on each
- Merged with the other four returns, so one border event appears once
- The expedited removal flagged at A-file p. 212, where the border copy was redacted
FOIA paralegalGets the biggest return read and onto the line the day it arrives, not after days of paging through it with a decade of dates in mind.
- 05Returned records
Each returned page beside what was read from it, redactions left black
How it works
- Five returns listed with their page counts and pages withheld
- A page map marks events found, risk flags, partial redactions and pages withheld
- The page shows the agency's black bars with the exemption written in
- Each finding can be confirmed, edited or rejected; nothing under a bar is guessed
FOIA paralegalCan hold any line of the history up against its source page before the attorney relies on it in court.
- 06Immigration history
Every event on one dated line, with risks pinned where they happened
How it works
- Six lanes: border, fingerprints, enforcement, court, the A-file, and the client and firm
- 41 events, each on its date as a mark, cited to its page
- Red pennants mark the expedited removal, the false claim and the missed hearing
- A band below shows when he was in the country, removed, or back without a record
Attorney of recordSees what the government already knows before putting the client on the stand, and where each fact is written.
- 07Risk flags
Risk flags that cite their pages and pose questions, not verdicts
How it works
- Each flag cites the passages behind it, often from two agencies
- Questions for the attorney sit beside it, never a legal conclusion
- She confirms, dismisses with a reason, or sends it to the client interview
- Two things to check sit below the flags, kept apart from them
Attorney of recordFinds the prior removal, the false claim and the missed hearing before the hearing does, with the pages to read first.
- 08Appeals and follow-ups
An appeal for withheld pages, drafted while the window is open
How it works
- Counts the 90-business-day appeal window for the 38 pages withheld in full
- 34 business days used and 56 left, with the closing date shown
- The draft names the exemption and why whole pages of his own records cannot be withheld
- Late requests across the firm listed, each with a follow-up ready to send
Attorney of recordKeeps the challenge to withheld pages alive, so no one learns after the window closed that they could have been released.
- 09History memo
A history memo with every line cited, ready for the attorney's signature
How it works
- Entries and exits, encounters, proceedings, applications, flags and things to check
- Questions for the client interview drawn from what the record shows
- Checks before signing: 41 of 41 events cited or marked as his own account
- No legal conclusion from an agent; the memo goes no further than the firm
Attorney of recordGoes into the client interview 22 days before the hearing with the whole history cited on four pages.