We just received a final response to our FOIA request for any memoranda or guidance directed to Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) members—and we were surprised by how much was disclosed. Among the newly released documents:

• BIA Style Manual (Redlined, Redacted) – 242 pages

• 15-05: Handling Cases Involving Certain Applications for Cancellation and Suspension

Previously Released Policy Documents:

These are memos we had received in response to the same FOIA request before this final batch:

• 12-02: DHS Exercise of Prosecutorial Discretion

• 10-05: Processing Cases Subject to a Protective Order

• Referral for Three-Board Member Review

• 04-02: IJ Decisions Imbedded in the Transcripts

• 08-03: The Board’s Standard Scope of Review

• 08-06: Admin Closure of ABC Cases

• 13-02: Unrepresented Detained [Noncitizens] with Competency Issues

• 17-04: UPDATE re DACA Paragraph

• 17-05: Admin Closure of Cases Related to TPS

Questions Still Remain

There are still unanswered questions—especially around the memo numbering system. For example, “13-02” seems to suggest the second memo issued in 2013. If that’s right, where are the rest from that year?

We’re also challenging the agency’s decision to withhold one document:

The Draft Emergency Stay United Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
This document was withheld under FOIA exemption (b)(5) as “pre-decisional.” But unless the SOP is tied to a specific case, it’s hard to see how it qualifies as pre-decisional.
As the Ninth Circuit explained in Maricopa Audubon Soc’y v. U.S. Forest Serv., 108 F.3d 1089, 1094 (9th Cir. 1997), “the agency must identify a specific decision to which the document is predecisional.”

Given the unanswered questions and questionable withholding, we’re preparing to file a FOIA appeal.