EOIR’s Office of Policy is a new office created to centralize communications, data collection, strategic planning, and agency policy and regulatory review and development. The Office of Policy is a highly politicized office, and many troubling policies are widely believed to have originated from the Office of Policy. The Office of Policy plays an enormous role in the functioning of EOIR. Despite its outsize role, there is very little publicly available information about the office, its staff, its functions, or the office’s interactions with the other components of EOIR.

CLINIC submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to EOIR seeking records related to the Office of Policy. Specifically, CLINIC sought records pertaining to the purpose, budget, formation, staffing, mission, and activities of the Office of Policy, and the Immigration Law Division within the Office of Policy. CLINIC also sought records of communication between the Office of Policy and the staff of EOIR; staff of the Department of Justice; staff of the Department of Homeland Security; and/or White House staff regarding 10 cases certified to the Attorney General for a decision. CLINIC’s FOIA request and the government disclosures can be found below: